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Everyone accepts Germany never want to get involved in military conflicts.
Germany is sending warplanes to fly reconnaissance missions.
It's the third major military conflict in which Germany has become involved since the traditional non-involvement doctrine was broken in the 90s over Kosovo. They then became involved in Afghanistan, which was a shrewd move as it meant they could afford not to get involved in Iraq.
Oliver Schick-
Fair enough you're right.
I guess what I was driving at is that politically, Germany has less pressure to enter conflicts.
If you think about the flack France gets, internationally everyone is a lot more sensitive in relation to Germany and there isn't the same domestic* pressure.
*or from the little I know there doesn't appear to be the same domestic pressure.
hugo7
I'd say peer pressure is a very apt summary.
The US are bombing, they are our no1 political allied. France is bombing, they are the 2nd most powerful state in mainland Europe and we need their support for renegotiation in Europe. Russia are bombing, which means us and Germany are basically the only traditional major powers not. Everyone accepts Germany never want to get involved in military conflicts.
At home being strong on foreign policy is often goes down well if done right, and is always a good distraction.
Fundamentally Cameron is very pragmatic. No one actually has a fucking clue how to deal with the issue, so it's turing into a classic case of it being "better" to do something, even if it's the wrong thing, than it is to do nothing.
I guess one blessing is at least this time it isn't God telling our PM to do it!