Anne Applebaum points out that Germany’s newfound crankiness isn’t just about Iraq:

Although it sounds like pacifism, Schroeder's rhetoric seems to be part of a larger pattern of assertiveness. When he came to office, he spoke of his desire to make Germany a "normal" country, liberated from its past. Now his countrymen seem determined to take him up on it. Last spring, a handful of German and Austrian conservative politicians tried to revive the long-dead question of compensation for Germans expelled from the Czech Republic at the end of the war -- an issue that many felt had been settled. Recently a debate over whether the Allied bombing of Dresden was a war crime has preoccupied the German press. Speaking of Dresden, one German historian called on the British to face up to their past -- something many have long asked of Germany. Germans complain louder than they did in the past about the unfairness of European Union budgets, which have always been supported by German taxpayers, and they have grown more assertive in their demands for German influence within the European Union itself.

Let’s re-write that graf a wee bit:

Although it sounds like militarism, Chancellor Hitler’s rhetoric seems to be part of an even larger pattern of assertiveness. When he came to office, he shouted of his desire to make Germany a “normal” country, liberated from its past. Now his countrymen seem determined to take him up on it. Last spring, a handful of German and Austrian conservative politicians tried to revive the long-dead question of compensation for Germans expelled from Polish lands at the end of the Great War – an issue that many felt had been settled. Recently a debate over whether the British naval “starvation” blockade of German harbors was a war crime has preoccupied the German press. Speaking of the blockade, one German historian called on the British to face up to their past – something many have long asked of the Weimar Republic. Germans complain louder than they did in the past about the unfairness of Versailles Treaty reparations, which have been supported by German taxpayers, and have grown more assertive in their demands for German influence within the League of Nations.

Of course, that’s probably a cheap bit of scare-mongering on my part. Schroeder hasn’t said one word about increasing German military readiness.

Still, it’s a good thing our forces are in better shape now than they were in 1939, nicht wahr?