German Chancellor Olaf Scholz defended his government’s military spending plans against criticism during a visit with troops on Monday in the south of the country. Scholz pointed to a large special fund to modernize Germany’s military, known as the Bundeswehr, that was created in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The attack put renewed attention on the state of many European defence forces. “In 2017, we still spent €37 billion ($42 billion) on defence. Now, with the use of the special fund, the Bundeswehr’s budget is €75 billion. That’s more or less a doubling,” Scholz said during a vi…