Dear Reader,

That Germany’s defence ministry is the bureaucratic equivalent of gordian's knot is not a new revelation. Many a defence minister has tried to cut through its gnarly planning systems and many a defence minister has failed.

Ursula von der Leyen got the call to take over the European Commission in the nick of time. She was just about to be hauled in front of a parliamentary inquiry over the hugely fees she’d splashed out on hiring consultants to sort her ministry out.

Christine Lambrecht (SPD) is perhaps just the unlucky one who was left standing when the music stopped.

That’s certainly the way Olaf Scholz wants us to understand things. He said on Thursday that Lambrecht has taken over a ministry that was plagued by problems and that she is “doing everything she can to put them right.”

The biggest problem of all is a lack of ammo in the army’s munitions stores. For understandable reasons Germany won’t reveal the actual state of its munitions stocks, but reports suggest that they…