Message from Germany: Wir haben ein problem

A national defense analyst says it wasn't much of an honor for Germany's chancellor to be named "Person of the Year" by TIME Magazine.

"I don't think it is necessarily a badge of courage, or is anything in particular, other than the opinion of the editorial staff of TIME Magazine," observes Bob Maginnis of the Family Research Council.

Maginnis just returned from a fact-finding trip to Germany, where the retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel spent time meeting with German and American military personnel in that country. They are concerned with Russia, he says.

TIME said it chose German leader Angela Merkel because of her leadership during the Greek debt crisis and her open-arms response to Middle East and African immigrants streaming into Europe.

While those immigrants are streaming in by the tens of thousands, Maginnis says the issue has "taken some of the steam" away from the threat posed by Russia and its president, Vladamir Putin.

The number of U.S. troops in Germany today is approximately 30,000, down from 300,000 during the Cold War against the Soviet Union.

Regarding the immigrant crisis, Maginnis says the argument for allowing the mass migration is to replace Germany's aging workforce.

"The problem is the vast majority of the immigrants are not educated," says Maginnis.

"They came to Germany not to work," he says, "but to get on the public dole to take the health care, to take the housing, and not to take on German values or the German language."

A German official was quoted in recent weeks warning that native Germans won't allow immigrants to enjoy the same social welfare benefits that an unemployed German receives, warning of a "civil war" if it's allowed.