It is understandable that the average German voter was surprised, but if the German government really could not conceive that Russia might attack one of its neighbors, then it is definitely incompetent.
Agreed. I have not seen any indication of either preparations underway or a more coordinated response, it looked like they got caught flat footed.
Compared to the intelligence out there, the speech by Biden and the troop movements it seemed to me that the writing was on the wall, but it is possible that the German authorities/BND were given false assurances, there is definitely some precedent for that during this conflict.
