Losing your job can happen to anyone at any time. Many people in Australia face unemployment without warning and it can turn their world upside down. Whether you lost your job, got sick, or hurt yourself and can’t work anymore – remember that others are going through the same thing.
It’s tough to deal with but you can find support and resources to help you get back on track. Don’t be afraid to reach out because there are people and services ready to assist you during this hard time.
You can start by getting free money advice from our Financial Information Service team. They’ll look at your situation and tell you what help you can get. We offer many support options for people without work.
The main one is JobSeeker Payment which helps when you’re looking for a job. Let me tell you more about these services later.
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Germany wants to buy European weapons worth 83 billion euros. The country aims to rely less on American military equipment. The new German leader Friedrich Merz wants to create Europe’s most powerful army.
This comes as many worry about the United States being less reliable if Donald Trump returns to power. The German government will buy new military gear between fall 2025 & the end of 2026. They plan to make 154 big purchases. Only 8 percent will come from American companies. This is a big change because Germany used to buy lots of military equipment from the US.
The change happened after President Trump told NATO countries to spend more money on defense. He wanted them to use 5% of their money and buy more weapons from America. This made Germany decide to buy more European military equipment instead.
In recent years, European countries started buying much more defense gear from the US. A research group called SIPRI found that Europe including Ukraine, bought three times more weapons from America between 2020 and 2024 than in the five years before that.
The US is now selling more weapons to Europe than it has in 20 years. From 2020 to 2024 Europe bought 35% of all US weapons. This is a big jump from the 13% they bought between 2015 and 2019. European NATO countries are now buying twice as many weapons as before.
Most of these weapons come from America. Germany has made the biggest change. They started buying many more weapons than before. Their weapon purchases went up by 334%. They got most of these weapons from the US. The US is doing better than ever at selling weapons worldwide.
They sold 21% more weapons in recent years. They now control 43% of all global weapon sales. This is up from 35% in the past. But now Germany wants to change things. They want to start buying more weapons from European companies instead of American ones.
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US expert Dr Josef Braml thinks we should look at this differently. He told Euronews that Trump showed America was not a reliable partner anymore.
This made people realize they shouldn’t keep paying for protection that wasn’t guaranteed. Braml believes this was a natural response to Trump’s actions rather than a mix-up of what caused what.
The US made European countries buy their weapons which created a dependency on American military systems. This is what expert Braml calls a form of tribute payment.
One example is the Patriot defense system. Germany owns six of these units. The Patriot is known as a top-level air defense system worldwide. Recently US news sources reported that their government stopped selling Patriots to other countries.
The Pentagon wants to keep these systems because they don’t have enough for themselves. This decision affects many potential buyers including European allies.
The F-35 fighter jet shows that Europe still depends on non-European weapons. Earlier this year French politician Christophe Gomart shared an interesting idea. He used to lead French military intelligence & now works in the European Parliament.
He thinks the US might have a hidden control system in these jets. This system could let them stop the planes from flying if they don’t like how other countries use them.
The Americans could block flights that they haven’t approved first. This theory points to bigger questions about military independence in Europe.
The German military will go ahead with buying the F-35 fighter planes from America. A spokesperson from the German defense equipment office explained that Europe doesn’t have any planes like the F-35 yet.
She said these planes are special because they use stealth technology that makes them hard to spot. The spokesperson added that when the military needs this type of advanced aircraft they have to get them from the United States since there are no other options.
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A new study shows that European countries are working to become less dependent on US weapons. Pieter Wezeman from the Stockholm Peace Research Institute helped write this report.
He says that NATO members in Europe are trying to build up their own defense companies. But he also points out that Europe and America have a long history of working together on military equipment. This connection won’t be easy to change.
After World War II Germany & America became partners through two big projects: The Marshall Plan and NATO. These programs helped both countries work together on money and safety issues.
When Trump became president the German leaders tried to keep good relations with America. But Germany’s actions didn’t match what Trump wanted. Trump started his new term saying “America First.” This meant he would make choices that put American needs before other countries.
He wanted American interests to come first in both local and world matters. In February Trump told NATO countries they should spend more money on defense and buy American weapons. He wanted them to raise spending to 5%. His new budget plan called the “One Big Beautiful Bill” set aside 150 billion dollars for defense. Trump said this was part of his plan to keep peace by staying strong.
The United States has a strong defense industry that can make its own parts and software for military equipment. This independence is important for national security according to expert Josef Braml. He thinks countries become weak if they rely too much on others for defense needs.
When Friedrich Merz visited the White House he was honest about Germany’s situation. He said Germany will need to depend on American support for many years even if some people don’t like this fact. This shows how important the connection between both countries remains for defense matters.
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We now live in a world with many powerful nations. Europe needs to become independent and strong. If we fail at this task we will lose our place in the world.
The powerful nations will do what they want while the weak ones will face problems. But the facts show that America still leads the way in military technology. This is clear when we look at defense patents in Europe.
A recent report from a German research group shows that American companies filed many more patents than European ones. From 2015 to 2021 US firms registered about 18,000 patents while all EU countries together only managed to file 12,000.
Germany did well in Europe with 4300 patents but came second after France. Still Germany relies too much on American companies for its success. An expert named Braml thinks this situation needs to change. He believes the old system of American dominance is over and security can’t be taken for granted anymore.
The numbers make it clear that Europe needs to step up its game in creating new technology. This gap between the US & EU in patent numbers shows how American companies still lead in innovation. The current setup isn’t working well for European countries & they need to find new ways to compete.
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