From what I heard the European armies match Russias army in power overall - however I’m not sure if they could be as fast as Putin in getting this power coordinated to the Baltics (if there was a conflict, then it would take place there). So I think that should be the most important part to work on.

Furthermore I think that spending the money on more advanced equipment is better than a mandatory conscription, which would make the current shortage of highly skilled workers only worse (and there’s also the question about how it would affect 18-year-olds personally).

I also agree that investing in training, equipment and deployment capabilities seems like a better option than having a conscription as the number of fighting personnel is roughly equal (and as a defender you need less people for defense). From what I heard the European armies match Russias army in power overall - however I’m not sure if they could be as fast as Putin in getting this power coordinated to the Baltics.

Regarding the median and wealth statistics: I agree that they are concerning especially for a rich country as Germany. However I think that is mainly due to the lower home ownership rates compared to most other countries. So I think it’s more an accidental situation (with f.e. historic reasons) than result of more neoliberal policies. Still an important point to highlight and work on.

I think the concerns mainly evolve around the Baltics as f.e. Estonia couldn’t defend alone against the Russian army and the armies of other nations could be to slow/ineffective to respond - before the region has been conquered. However I am also unsure how mandatory conscription could prevent this situation (maybe as a way to recruit more professional soldiers?).

In my view not speaking English is the biggest disadvantage of many European countries:

People from other countries will have a substantially easier way of integrating into society in the UK, Canada etc. because there they won’t have to choose between having to learn a new language or have difficulties finding jobs and navigating everyday life (like joining a sports club etc. ). Here in Germany the trend goes definitely towards more English speaking companies, projects and hobby groups but obviously English speaking countries will always have a substantial lead in that. Honestly if I thought about emigrating, my first thoughts would also be about some English speaking countries. So you will get by in Germany with English but it’s highly desirable to learn German in the long run (which isn’t only negative as learning other languages is good for ones brain, widens the horizon and is kinda cool).

That being said (take it with a grain of salt as I might be biased) the European Union and Germany still are good options because of

• the amazing travel opportunities (Italian beaches, hiking in the Alps, millennia old cities like Rome, Paris and Prague etc.) just around the corner
• attractive citizenship path (in Germany maximum five years)
• relative democratic stability (in Germany: the AfD “only” has 20% voters with the remaining 80% strongly against cooperation and in big cities where most foreigners live it’s substantially lower - moving into another European country is in the worst case also with hurdles)
• solid economy (in the past two years stagnating but for example the new infrastructure bill will change that probably)
• with for example the Max-Planck-Gesellschaft and the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft Germany has some prestigious and productive research institutions
• …

On a more meta level non-English speaking countries might also have a disadvantage due to not even being considered in the first place because they are less prominent in the English speaking media.

Edit: Btw. the wages and working conditions in Germany in public research aren’t very high but I assume that applies worldwide to research, which isn’t funded by a company. Edit2: The first points probably relate less to researchers than to other professionals as for scientific researchers it’s more common to work in another country and to move on after some years (at least that’s my perception as a non-expert).