Ulrike Franke
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rikefranke.bsky.social
Ulrike Franke
@rikefranke.bsky.social
46K followers 2.2K following 5.3K posts
Senior Fellow at European Council on Foreign Relations. #Drone politics PhD @ox.ac.uk. Previously at, and now teaching @SciencesPo.bsky.social. Writes about all things #Germany #Defence #miltech. Podcast host at @SicherheitsPod.de & LeCollimateur
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rikefranke.bsky.social
I still find it much harder and awkward to do stuff in French, compared to English or German. But here you go, me on drones, countermeasures and more.

Full video: www.franceinfo.fr/monde/europe...
December 5, 2025 at 7:40 PM
rikefranke.bsky.social
A whopping 65% of Germans say Germany is acting too cautiously in asserting its interests towards the United States.
December 5, 2025 at 7:18 PM
rikefranke.bsky.social
Zeitenwende.
In 2020, 56% of Germans said they perceive Germany's security situation much better or somewhat better compared to between 1949 and 1990.

In 2025 that number has shrunk to 23% - and 53% say its much worse or somewhat worse.
December 5, 2025 at 7:11 PM
rikefranke.bsky.social
We call it Franco-German fusion
December 5, 2025 at 5:58 PM
rikefranke.bsky.social
What is needed after a day like this.
December 5, 2025 at 5:54 PM
rikefranke.bsky.social
To no one’s surprise, German air traffic control finds more drone sightings by German pilots than ever. We’re up to 208 sightings this year already, first time it’s over 200.
December 5, 2025 at 1:34 PM
rikefranke.bsky.social
The doc is all about closing the US, yet it says that “openness” is what differentiates it internationally.
It wants to rebalance markets, criticises globalisation, yet says that “free market capitalism” will “continue to make us the global partner of first choice.”
What differentiates America from the rest of the world our openness, transparency, trustworthiness, commitment to freedom and innovation, and free market capitalism-will continue to make us the global partner of first choice.
December 5, 2025 at 11:17 AM
rikefranke.bsky.social
There is one striking incoherence in the text: the document is all about America first.

But the very same document lists America’s “network of alliances” & “unmatched softpower” as assets, and speaks about “collective defence”.
If the US does what it describes in the doc, it will lose all that.
III. What Are America's Available Means to Get What We Want? America retains the world's most enviable position, with world-leading assets, resources, and advantages, including: … • A broad network of alliances, with treaty allies and partners in the world's most strategically important regions; • Unmatched "soft power" and cultural influence;
December 5, 2025 at 11:17 AM
rikefranke.bsky.social
Activist in Europe. Elsewhere not so much.
December 5, 2025 at 11:05 AM
rikefranke.bsky.social
What struck me most on Europe wasn’t the focus on value, freedom of speech etc - again, very similar to Vance’s Munich speech - but how activist it is. This is about directly trying to influence what is going on in Europe:
American diplomacy should continue to stand up for genuine democracy, freedom of expression, and unapologetic celebrations of European nations' individual character and history. America encourages its political allies in Europe to promote this revival of spirit, and the growing influence of patriotic European parties indeed gives cause for great optimism. Our goal should be to help Europe correct its current trajectory. We will need a strong Europe to help us successfully compete, and to work in concert with us to prevent any adversary from dominating Europe. America is, understandably, sentimentally attached to the European continent— and, of course, to Britain and Ireland. The character of these countries is also strategically important because we count upon creative, capable, confident, democratic allies to establish conditions of stability and security. We want to work with aligned countries that want to restore their former greatness.
December 5, 2025 at 10:17 AM
rikefranke.bsky.social
Pages 25 to 27 are most relevant here and should be read in their entirety
December 5, 2025 at 10:01 AM
rikefranke.bsky.social
What about Europe? It is mentioned quite a bit, with one primary focus: European identity and the alleged elites and minority governments that restrict core liberties and democratic processes. This is extremely close to JD Vance’s Munich speech.
We want to support our allies in preserving the freedom and security of Europe, while restoring Europe's civilizational self-confidence and Western identity: Regarding countries that share, or say they share, these principles, the United States will advocate strongly that they be upheld in letter and spirit. We will oppose elite-driven, anti-democratic restrictions on core liberties in Europe, the Anglosphere, and the rest of the democratic world, especially among our allies. The Trump Administration finds itself at odds with European officials who hold unrealistic expectations for the war perched in unstable minority governments, many of which trample on basic principles of democracy to suppress opposition.
December 5, 2025 at 9:59 AM
rikefranke.bsky.social
And domestically
December 5, 2025 at 9:54 AM
rikefranke.bsky.social
Let’s look at those priorities:

. “the affairs of other countries are our concern only if their activities directly threaten our interests”
. Focus on Western Hemisphere
. nations should prioritize their interests
. “days of the United States propping up the entire world order like Atlas are over”
After the end of the Cold War, American foreign policy elites convinced themselves that permanent American domination of the entire world was in the best interests of our country. Yet the affairs of other countries are our concern only if their activities directly threaten our interests. Our elites badly miscalculated America's willingness to shoulder forever global burdens to which the American people saw no connection to the national interest. They overestimated America's ability to fund, simultaneously, a massive welfare-regulatory-administrative state alongside a massive military, diplomatic, intelligence, and foreign aid complex. They placed hugely misguided and destructive bets on globalism and so-called "free trade" that hollowed out the very middle class and industrial base on which American economic and military preeminence depend. They allowed allies and partners to offload the cost of their defense onto the American people, and sometimes to suck us into conflicts and controversies central to their interests but peripheral or irrelevant to our own. • We want to ensure that the Western Hemisphere remains reasonably stable and well-governed enough to prevent and disco...age mass migration to the United States; we want a Hemisphere whose governments cooperate with us against narco-terrorists, cartels, and other transnational criminal organizations; we want a Hemisphere that remains free of hostile foreign incursion or ownership of key assets, and that supports critical supply chains; and we want to ensure our continued access to key strategic locations. In other words, we will assert and enforce a "Trump Corollary" to the Monroe Doctrine; Primacy of Nations - The world's fundamental political unit is and will remain the nation-state. It is natural and j that all nations put their interests first and guard their sovereignty. The world works best when nations prioritize their interests. The United States will put our own interests first and, in our relations with er nations, encourage them to prioritize their own interests as well. We stand for the sovereign rights of nations, against the sovereignty-sapping incursions of the most intrusive transnational organizations, and for reforming those institutions so that they assist rather than hinder individual sovereignty and further American interests. 9 The days of the United States propping up the entire world order like Atlas are over.
December 5, 2025 at 9:49 AM
rikefranke.bsky.social
Just compare the table of content from the 2025 to the 2022 NSS.
Prioritisation and easy language.
Honestly, our strategies could use more of that.

(This is a point about form, not content.)
December 5, 2025 at 9:49 AM
rikefranke.bsky.social
But first:
This is really a strategy which prioritises. They also say so openly, and definitely have a point on this 👇
A strategy must evaluate, sort, and prioritize. Not every country, region, issue, or cause however worthy— can be the focus of American strategy. The purpose of foreign policy is the protection of core national interests; that is the sole focus of this strategy. American strategies since the end of the Cold War have fallen short-they have been laundry lists of wishes or desired end states; have not clearly defined what we want but instead stated vague platitudes; and have often misjudged what we should want. Focused Definition of the National Interest - Since at least the end of the Cold War, administrations have often published National Security Strategies that seek to expand the definition of America's "national interest" such that that almost no issue or endeavor is considered outside its scope. But to focus on everything is to focus on nothing. It has become customary for documents such as this to mention every part of the world and issue, on the assumption that any oversight signifies a blind spot or a snub. As a result, such documents become bloated and unfocused-the opposite of what a strategy should be.
December 5, 2025 at 9:49 AM
rikefranke.bsky.social
A few thoughts on the new US national security strategy that was released today.
🧵

www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/u...
December 5, 2025 at 9:49 AM
rikefranke.bsky.social
This is how we all die.
We reject the disastrous "climate change" and "Net Zero" ideologies that have so greatly harmed Europe, threaten the United States, and subsidize our adversaries.
December 5, 2025 at 5:07 AM
rikefranke.bsky.social
US national security strategy.
Something sure is unrecognisable here, but it’s not Europe.

www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/u...
But this economic decline is eclipsed by the real and more stark prospect of civilizational erasure. The larger issues facing Europe include activities of the European Union and other transnational bodies that undermine political liberty and sovereignty, migration policies that are transforming the continent and creating strife, censorship of free speech and suppression of political opposition, cratering birthrates, and loss of national identities and self-confidence. Should present trends continue, the continent will be unrecognizable in 20 years or less. As such, it is far from obvious whether certain European countries will have economies and militaries strong enough to remain reliable allies. Many of these nations are currently doubling down on their present path. We want Europe to remain European, to regain its civilizational self-confidence, and to abandon its failed focus on regulatory suffocation
December 5, 2025 at 5:06 AM
rikefranke.bsky.social
Couldn’t have said it better… 😄

@wiegold.de on the idea of creating a “Germany-wide anti-drone umbrella”.

augengeradeaus.net/2025/12/mini...
Und ein bisschen, pardon, abstrus wird es mit der Forderung Es sind die rechtlichen Grundlagen zur Errichtung eines gemeinsamen bundesweiten Drohnenabwehrschirms zu schaffen. Nun sind gemeinsame rechtliche Grundlagen für Bund und Lander an dieser Stelle sicherlich nötig. Aber die Vorstellung, es könne realistisch so etwas geben wie einen gemeinsamen bundesweiten Drohnenabwehrschirm und die damit verbundene Illusion eines Golden Dome gegen Drohnen: da wäre es vielleicht realistischer, auf den Weihnachtswunschzettel ein rosa Pony zu schreiben.
December 4, 2025 at 4:34 PM
rikefranke.bsky.social
This is a good interview with Sönke Neitzel. I particularly liked his answer to the dreaded question of “is the Bundeswehr able to defend us/NATO?” @landrycharrier.bsky.social

dokdoc.eu/2025/11/27/g...

(German and English in alt text )
dokdoc: Kann Deutschland - Stand heute - seine Beistandspflicht erfüllen? Neitzel: Ja und nein - die Frage ist immer, was genau damit gemeint ist. Natürlich verfügt Deutschland über eine Bundeswehr: acht Brigaden, Eurofighter, eine Marine - und diese Kräfte können grundsätzlich kämpfen. Entscheidend ist jedoch das Szenario. Im Falle eines plötzlichen Kriegsausbruchs wäre die Bundeswehr durchaus in der Lage, etwa die Panzergrenadierbrigade 37 an die Ostflanke zu verlegen. Diese Truppe ist ausgebildet, modern ausgerüstet und kampffähig. Gegen 5.000 russische Soldaten wäre Deutschland auch verteidigungsfähig. Selbst 100.000 Gegner wären beherrschbar - vorausgesetzt, die NATO bündelt ihre Kräfte. Gleichzeitig bestehen massive Lücken - das ist unbestreitbar. Und diese Lücken würden im Ernstfall Menschenleben kosten. Um es auf den Punkt zu bringen: Die Bundeswehr ist grundsätzlich einsatzfähig — aber ihre Leistungsfähigkeit variiert stark je nach Szenario. dokdoc: Can Germany—as things stand today—fulfill its duty to provide assistance? Neitzel: Yes and no—the question is always what exactly is meant by that. Of course, Germany has a federal army: eight brigades, Eurofighters, a navy—and these forces are fundamentally capable of fighting. However, the scenario is crucial. In the event of a sudden outbreak of war, the Bundeswehr would certainly be in a position to deploy the 37th Panzergrenadier Brigade to the eastern flank, for example. This unit is trained, modernly equipped, and capable of combat. Germany would also be able to defend itself against 5,000 Russian soldiers. Even 100,000 opponents would be manageable – provided NATO pools its forces. At the same time, there are massive gaps – that is undeniable. And these gaps would cost human lives in an emergency. To put it bluntly, the Bundeswehr is fundamentally operational – but its performance varies greatly depending on the scenario. Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
December 4, 2025 at 10:32 AM
rikefranke.bsky.social
This, actually 👆
😄
December 3, 2025 at 6:19 PM
rikefranke.bsky.social
Well then.
December 3, 2025 at 3:52 PM
rikefranke.bsky.social
Merkel here expresses a sentiment so many Germans had following the fall of the Berlin Wall: that the big ideological fights were done.

That we now have to fight again for democracy and our system and freedom is something that we all need to realise.
December 1, 2025 at 8:45 AM
rikefranke.bsky.social
Merkel admits that Germany would not have reached the 2% goal for defence in 2024 given the policy choices during her time. Admits at being too slow (but also blames SPD).*

(which I would argue is justified).
November 30, 2025 at 9:00 PM