The whole mess started with her predecessor. Remember smart and fashionable von Guttenberg? Seehofer's favourite prince, who resigned because he so blatantly plagiarized his Phd thesis (probably had it ghostwritten). He is allegedly at fault for starving the army of resources and causing the perpetual state of bad repair.

VdL brought the magic consultants in to fix the dysfunctional procurement process. Even one of her secretaries of state was a former senior McKinsey consultant. Well, where did all those contracts come from? As the major unforced error on her part, early-on she attested the troops an "attitude problem". Which immediately lost her trust among the military. From then on it was basically over.

And now AKK is supposed to cut a decent enough figure in that post. At least for a while until Merkel steps off. So that she can credibly be in the pole position come a new election, having spent time on the Federal work bench. Until very recently she upheld a 'sacrosanct' promise to spend her full energy on being the CDU chief to renew the party. Her appointment is thus not going down well with the party members. But given the lack of other credible contenders, she is still likely to end up with the top job.

_{Schengen is toast!}