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[Loud Whispers]

A reminder that, according to the former British general Sir Alexander Richard Shirreff, deputy supreme allied commander Europe from 2011 to 2014, the war with Russia is to be started in this month.
Given the complete lack of any special war tensions, I think it's safe to assume that we now know why he's a former "deputy supreme allied commander Europe", but for the sake of clarity, I'll wait until the end of May on my evaluation of British military staff's quality.

At the book launch at London’s Royal United Services Institute, he heavily caveated the scenario by saying it was still avoidable provided Nato took the necessary steps to pre-position forces in large enough numbers in the Baltic states. Nato is planning to make a start on just such a move at a Nato summit in Warsaw in July.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

ur mov pottin

[Strife26]

Battalion and 250 tanks have a lot of space between them.

[scriver]

I love how it says nothing about Bulgaria.

[Starver]

I love how it says nothing about Bulgaria.

Bulgars! That's all they need!!

[Digital Hellhound]

Bulgaria, the ultimate deterrent. In the future, peace will be kept by means of Mutually Assured Bulgaria. You heard it here first, folks.

[Dorsidwarf]

Battalion and 250 tanks have a lot of space between them.

does it mean "250 tanks + ifvs + howitzers" or does it mean "250 tanks, ifvs, and howitzers"

[Sheb]

Battalion and 250 tanks have a lot of space between them.

does it mean "250 tanks + ifvs + howitzers" or does it mean "250 tanks, ifvs, and howitzers"

The thing isn't clear, but it's the second one.

[Antioch]

Amnesty international has published a report about the more than 100,000 public sector workers that have been purged from their job in Turkey.

https://www.amnesty.nl/actueel/turkey-professional-annihilation-of-100000-public-sector-workers-in-post-coup-attempt-purge

Some insight into what are the requirements for losing your job in Turkey:

Ministry of Justice officials told Amnesty International that dismissals were carried out on the basis of conduct which, while not necessarily constituting a criminal act, did involve a concrete “incriminating” action by an individual evidencing a link to a “terrorist” organization. The Ministry of Justice officials provided Amnesty International with the following two examples of why individuals were dismissed: firstly, if they cancelled a Digitürk satellite television provider subscription following a call for cancellations from what the authorities refer to as “FETÖ” via the Fethullah Gülen Hocaefendi'nin haftal?k sohbetleri. website due to the removal of Gülen linked channels from the network in October 2015.17

Secondly, following a call to do so on the herkul website, putting money into Bank Asya, after sanctions were imposed against it as part of an investigation into its links with the Gülen movement.18 The Ministry of Justice did not provide any other justifications based on the actions of individuals for the thousands of dismissals to Amnesty International and has not done so publicly, or even to any of those affected.

So basically cancelling your television subscription from a provider that removed "Gulen linked channels" from their service is already enough reason to sack someone from their job......

[Helgoland]

The sneaky way of building a European Army. Maybe this'll be the start of institutionalized European armed forces.

Or it could lead to a Athens vs Sparta situation. Who knows.

[Antioch]

Well, it's something of an improvement on what I thought (which is damned by faint praise if there ever was an instance of it). I thought the purges were practically random.

One bizarre thing (actually everything about the story is bizarre) is that that those people already cancelled their tv subscription in october 2015, before the Gullen association was even placed on the list of terrorist groups.

[Sheb]

The sneaky way of building a European Army. Maybe this'll be the start of institutionalized European armed forces.

Or it could lead to a Athens vs Sparta situation. Who knows.

Germans start walking around in fur underwears again?

[Starver]

One bizarre thing (actually everything about the story is bizarre) is that that those people already cancelled their tv subscription in october 2015, before the Gullen association was even placed on the list of terrorist groups.

Thus proving their insidious guilt, obviously...

[Helgoland]

The sneaky way of building a European Army. Maybe this'll be the start of institutionalized European armed forces.

Or it could lead to a Athens vs Sparta situation. Who knows.

Germans start walking around in fur underwears again?

Actually I'd been hoping we'd be Athens for once...

[Culise]

That seems rather self-defeating, considering Athens lost, but whatever floats your boat.

[Loud Whispers]

The sneaky way of building a European Army. Maybe this'll be the start of institutionalized European armed forces.

Or it could lead to a Athens vs Sparta situation. Who knows.

I wouldn't really call it sneaky since everyone's been noticing Germany building this army for quite some time now

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has repeatedly floated the idea of an EU army, only to be met with either ridicule or awkward silence. That remains the case even as the U.K., a perennial foe of the idea, is on its way out of the union.

ayy lmao

An assist from junior partners may be Germany’s best shot at bulking out its military quickly — and German-led miniarmies

Miniarmies is an adorable phrase, and that's really suspicious. It's like the naming of the battle-tank, spies who first heard of it thought the British were building loads of water or oil storage tanks until they saw the first prototypes rolling over the trenches. Weaponized cuteness
As long as Germany doesn't forget that France needs to be convinced of the worth of this, this can work well. If they keep ignoring France they will embark on another collision course with France, UK, Russia and the USA all over again. USA, UK & France are supportive of Germany regrowing her military muscle, indeed encouraging her to stop cutting her defence budget and try meet the 2% mark, but understandably they will be unnerved by German military unilateralism. Russia will oppose this always again for obvious reasons, but with a supportive France they wouldn't try anything

That seems rather self-defeating, considering Athens lost, but whatever floats your boat.

Athens lost the war, but Spartan civilization crumbled under victory