Eugen Systems Forums

I blame the baby formula lobby.

Grabbed_by_the_Spets wrote:When you try to strong-arm the rest of the world over breast milk...

Isn't all animal made milk, breast milk?

when you threaten a bunch of third world nations because youre really repessed about breastfeeding

Doinize wrote:when you threaten a bunch of third world nations because you own lots of stock in baby food companies

Fixed.

Never assume it's repression instead of greed these days.

Grabbed_by_the_Spets wrote:How to loose your allies trust in one simple speech

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/11/obama-a ... fense.html
To be fair major allies in NATO should step it up, especially if the EU wants to become more of a federation. Part of the reason why how Russia go to where it was today was how European powers got to complacent with the post cold war climate of the early 2000s. "This kurzgesagt told wars between nations will never happen again. Therefore we can abolish our military and use the funds for healthcare and education/nasa".

Sure Russia's military isn't the Soviet one, however nations like German military is mere husk. Macron there seems to be some interest in improving and modernizing the French military especially an interest in defense treaties. Hopefully he is able to make France back into an effective conventional force, however other nation's willingness to fight or commit to defense seems rather lacking. Many nations have downsized their military, and have abolished whole units. For example many nations have abandoned heavy mechanized vehicles in favor of a small fleet of light wheeled vehicles as seen in the Netherlands.

Another issue is that whole "what's in it for me" or "I want people to die for my country, but I don't want MY people to die for another country" mentality that has been made popular thanks to the isolationists and foreign countries. If the US pulled out of NATO and Russia invaded the Baltics tommorow, I have a feeling none of the countries in the EU would want to commit to a "another pointless war" and go for some Neville Chamberlain 2.0 solution that will only chip away at the west.

Shrike wrote:

Grabbed_by_the_Spets wrote:How to loose your allies trust in one simple speech

Stuff

The thing is, the EU countries in NATO were fulfilling their obligation of 2% by 2025, it was him that drove the deal up to 4% by 2025 and 2% immediately. Which is absurd by all means.

Edit: I'm also pretty sure the Chamberlain agreement was made because he knew that Britain wasn't prepared for war and was stalling, much like the German/Soviet peace agreements.

Grabbed_by_the_Spets wrote:The thing is, the EU countries in NATO were fulfilling their obligation of 2% by 2025

Not really. Here in Germany the talk only was about 1,5% by 2024. The 2% are widely criticised; its primarily seen as a benchmark, not a goal to reach.

Even then you can throw money at a problem and see zero improvement. It's pretty understandable for counties like Estonia, Neatherlands to have small armies given their size and population, however you have countries like Germany who has let their army fall to below what the treaty of versallies called for. Also you have France with a pretty small and aging military that is geared mostly toward peace keeping operations in africa and low intensity conflicts. Although Macron seems pretty serious on defense where as Merkel seems rather reluctant. The British with Brexit and the possibility of comrade corncob getting into office will probably see more decline in the British military. I don't know much about Spain, but Italy always seemed like a sketchy ally and Eastern Europe seems to be armed to the teeth. However, many eastern european countries like Poland, Bulgaria, and Hungary are at risk of entering Russia's sphere of influence or becoming isolated armed neutral states with nationalist governments.

Either way, if Merkel wants Germany to lead the EU it going to need to step up its defense spending. The Axis and Stalin were able to have their way by dividing up the allies and neutral powers with little resistance through war fatigued appears and Putin will do the same by supporting nationalist and isolationist movements regardless if their ideology aligns with his, only as long as Russia can rise to higher status unopposed.