Erich Kästner, the great critic, humanist, and antimilitarist, once said, “You must never sink so low as to drink from the cocoa you are being dragged through.” As the German government seeks to sweeten the €100 billion in special debt it plans to take on for ad hoc rearmament — changing the constitution to this end — it’s worth taking a critical look at the “cocoa” it’s ladling over us.

For certain, the measure is marketed in the name of humanitarian intentions. Olaf Scholz’s Social Democratic–led administration declares that this arms buildup is now necessary because Russia has invaded Ukraine. The invasion must, indeed, be condemned in the strongest possible terms. Politicians today face two tasks: They must end the bloodshed in Ukraine as quickly as possible. And they must prevent its escalation, within Ukraine as well as beyond its borders, with the appalling risk of a third world war among nuclear powers.

But the €100 billion in additional spending, directed especially to the air force and the navy, is not intended for Ukraine. It makes no contribution to ending the bloodshed. Accordingly, when Chancellor Scholz announced the €100 billion figure — decided in backrooms three days after the war began ­­ — there was no pressure to act in terms of security policy or morality.