Now that 80 years have passed since the end of the Second World War, in which Nazi Germany aspired to become the Global Hegemon, what is the role for Germany to play in modern times?

Germany’s population has stabilized at about 80 million for several decades now, plus a ragtag bunch of illegal immigrants. If Russia is not considered a European country — and it could very well be, but it has been at the periphery for so long that Europe may not be elastic enough to accommodate the Russians — then Germany is by far the strongest nation in Europe, still. That makes it the natural heartland of the European continent.

Just as NATO was designed to keep “the Americans in, the Russians out, and the Germans down,” the European Union is partly structured to minimize German power. If power were the currency of the EU, its capital would be Berlin, not Brussels, and everything from military technology to Airbus manufacture would be centralized there. After all, there is that famous “German engineering.”

That is enough of an introduction. Let’s talk possibilities.

subversion

Germany could attempt to subvert the European Union from within. This is unlikely as long as liberals continue to hold power within Germany, which they have basically done for 4 generations now. But if a right-wing Germany First organization ever manages to take over, like the AfD, don’t be surprised if German moves to do a “Long March through the Institutions,” as thousands of young Germans head to Brussels to take over as much government property as they can get their hands on.

fracture

The European Union could die. Already the passport-free travel is being questioned by Germany because illegal immigrants are not being stopped at the farther reaches of Europe by local power-brokers. They get in at the edge, and make their way to Germany because Germany is the richest.

If further institutions unravel, Germany could pull out. All it would take for the EU to totally collapse is if France or Germany left it. Then, Germany could move in and take over militarily, as it did during World War 2. They would need some type of Iron-Dome-like anti-ballistic missile shield. French and British nuclear-tipped missiles abound, just minutes of flight away. But if these can be knocked out of the sky, German armies can move unimpeded underneath their flight paths, trompling on ground that has seen radishes and turnips turn their weary faces toward the sun.

wild card

Stalin mused it was too bad Germany and Russia didn’t unite, because they were the strongest powers in Europe by far. A German-Russian team effort would be unstoppable. It would combine German finesse and sophistication with Russian natural resources and colossal size. According to World Heartland theory, he who controls the heartland controls the globe because he can’t be touched by navies. The World Heartland is located somewhere in the German-Russian area, its borders nebulous. If the theory is correct, a German-Russian union would have the added benefit of foreshadowing greater moves down the road for the new partners. And remember, up until the big war actually began, Russia was still supplying Germany with raw materials that Germany used in its military effort. The giants have a history of cooperation and mutual understanding. And finally, the best soldiers in Europe (outside the former Yugoslavia) are German and Russian. The Russians ground down the Germans in the war, but the Germans inflicted a terrific cost.

Men are watching Germany like a hawk, particularly in the United States, which has not forgotten German moves to power almost a hundred years previously. If Germany attempts any funny business on any of the three lines above, the U.S. will certainly notice and act. Therefore, it becomes preeminent for a renascent Germany to take care of the United States before it gets its act together.

Terrorist bombings, even nuclear bombings of, say, the capital city of America, can be pinned on Muslim extremists. Islamists would of course love to do that kind of thing, but it is unlikely they can get their hands on a bomb. It wouldn’t be terribly difficult for the German special forces to launch a raid to steal a warhead from some place in the globe, perhaps Pakistan, where security is light and the locals can’t fight. Then, a quick drop on K Street, activation, and… mushroom cloud blossoming.

(K Street has a bunch of lobbyists on it, so this wouldn’t be a complete tragedy. The only danger is that the toxic residue from vaporized lobbyists would poison the entire Atlantic as far as the Azores. The whales would suffer.)

Germany has been content to rest quietly and patiently, while rebuilding the last of its infrastructure in East Germany. Following the reunification of East and West, capital poured into the East and now, in the first quarter point of the Twenty First Century, not a whole lot separates the two regions except perhaps their political beliefs.

As Germany rouses itself for a place on the world stage, it should be noted that all its fundamental strengths, its historical loci, remain intact. The Germans still work hard, fight hard, and fuck hard. They are disciplined like the Japanese. Around them is a hinterland of hundreds of millions of nonGermans who could be yoked to the German war machine easily enough. That was the dream of Hitler and his associates. A capital called Germania would be the center of a Greater Germany (including the slaves of Poland and the stretches: [vast empty] of the Russian steppe, ripe for resettlement with Germans: [blond, blue-eyed]) and suck in men and materials from all over Europe. With all of Europe behind it, Germania could direct a war against the United States which they had a good probability of winning. Then, once America was down, the rest of the world would fall like a gentle feather into the palm of Hitler’s hand.

Germania… Berlin.

Berlin… Germania.

There are still dreamers in Germany who chafe under the yoke of the EU and American-led peace efforts. Ramstein Air Base — a U.S. power nexus — is an affront to them. It’s like Guantanamo base in Cuba was for Castro. The song by Rammstein that goes:

Musik kommt aus dem Weißen Haus
und vor Paris steht Micky Maus.

expresses some of the dissatisfaction the average German feels for American domination, not just cultural but material. There are many Germans who would love to see America take a fall, and a fair number (not quite as many) who believe that Germany should have won World War 2. If they blame anyone, they blame Hitler for being inflexible — Hitler refused to withdraw his armies from the Eastern Front, and sent them to fight to annihilation in line with his Darwinian view of the world.

Germany has raw power. In its chambers lies the Unobtainium of Avatar science-fiction storytelling. Thrumming across the plains of Germany are the bars of music by Wagner that Hitler found so satisfying and so fascinating. Germany will rise again.