Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. Voltaire.
"I've been in few famous last stands, lad, and they're butcher shops. That's what Blouse's leading you into, mark my words. What'll you lot do then? We've had a few scuffles, but that's not war. Think you'll be man enough to stand, when the metal meets the meat?"
"You did, sarge", said Polly." You said you were in few last stands."
"Yeah, lad. But I was holding the metal"
Sergeant Major Jackrum 10th Light Foot Infantery Regiment "Inns-and-Out"
"The only way that has ever been discovered to have a lot of people cooperate together voluntarily is through the free market. And that's why it's so essential to preserving individual freedom.” -- Milton Friedman
"The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule." -- H. L. Mencken
"The only way that has ever been discovered to have a lot of people cooperate together voluntarily is through the free market. And that's why it's so essential to preserving individual freedom.” -- Milton Friedman
"The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule." -- H. L. Mencken
We really can't. The Tiger for France has a gun mount just like the Apache that the pilot can aim with his head or so. We only ordered the Tiger in tank buster config and had the gun removed to save money. Then we sent it to Afghanistan where the army found out that it is useless for fire support because aiming with gunpods under the stub wings is quite hard...
Obviously anyone with half a brain could have figured that out before, but in our army we also can't fly with half our interceptors due to a lack of spare parts while the ministry can't spend all its budget because the suppliers can't supply any material that we could pay for. Meanwhile the budget is being increased further to meet NATO standards.
I guess we can kill the Taliban individually with anti tank guided missiles and bury Putin in money, should he invade.
"Topic is tired and needs a nap." - Tosa Inu
"The only way that has ever been discovered to have a lot of people cooperate together voluntarily is through the free market. And that's why it's so essential to preserving individual freedom.” -- Milton Friedman
"The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule." -- H. L. Mencken
Well, there are of course other programs that seem to work, such as the new Puma IFV, the Leopard 2 still works and I have no idea about the infantry upgrades. The truth about the accuracy of the G-36 seems hard to find though. It's mostly the aerial stuff where we seem to have huge issues. The A-400M was delayed for a very long time and the NH-90 was apparently built to the weirdest requirements, most striking seems to be the lack of ground clearance that makes it impossible to land on terrain that isn't very flat...
I keep wondering how they work on the requirements and how much those highly paid engineers think about them or whether the industry does this on purpose to demand more money for fixes and so on...
After all they source all these flying machines from EADS, which is a merger of a bazillion former airplane manufacturers (including famous ones like Fokker and Messerschmidt) and pretty much a monopoly by now. In the civilian sector they have Boeing as a competitor but the German Air Force would probably not make them compete with Dassault from France whereas Dassault probably had to make the Rafale extra good so France would buy it over the Eurofighter....
Not that the Eurofighter is terrible, it just lacks spare parts and still needs upgrades for full functionality, oh and it cost a fortune...
"Topic is tired and needs a nap." - Tosa Inu
Military hardware is something I do genuinely find interesting, but discussing it in a Brexit thread seems overly tangential.
An enemy that wishes to die for their country is the best sort to face - you both have the same aim in mind.
Science flies you to the moon, religion flies you into buildings.
"If you can't trust the local kleptocrat whom you installed by force and prop up with billions of annual dollars, who can you trust?" Lemur
If you're not a liberal when you're 25, you have no heart. If you're not a conservative by the time you're 35, you have no brain.
The best argument against democracy is a five minute talk with the average voter. Winston Churchill
"Topic is tired and needs a nap." - Tosa Inu
You (Germany) has bigger problems, the Netherlands isn't going to leave very soon but willl eventually, going to ask for tarrifs for the supply of your own key-industries, just like the British will come out of this unharmed so will the Netherlands, and that is going to happen as the EU isn't exactly popular here, who really wants to comfort something that's slowly dying unless you give a damn about it dying. Nobody gives a fuck about the EU, only a handfull of europhiles. Trade will continue, deals will still be made. Just without that repulsive facehugger who is too drunk to find his breakfest-cognac
Last edited by Fragony; 04-12-2017 at 16:01.
Let's go back to the original topic. I want to return to the "Gibraltar Affair", now that smoke cleared.
What happened so far.
The British people decided to leave the EU, obviously thinking they could save money, get rid of European immigrants and regulations while keeping access to the EU market. The result was tight and while some areas were pro Brexit, others were not.
The EU made clear that there could not free access to the EU market without accepting the other freedoms of the EU.
The British Prime replied that the Brits wanted to have a HARD EXIT, which means total control over the borders at any cost.
Scotland's government refused to follow this position, they argued that the English may leave if they want to but that they want to have the same freedom to decide to stay.
UK and EU prepared for the negotiations. There will be million things to negotiate, but there are obviously some central issues: borders, economy, money. UK and Britain have two common land borders, both with difficult historical background. It is clear that the UK gov. will try to support the special interests of Northern Ireland and Gibraltar. In return the EU will have to respect the interests of all members (I guess all have to agree to an arrangement), so you do not have to have access to secret strategy papers to know that the EU will support the interests of Spain and Ireland regarding the borders.
Even though this is so clear that it does not seem to be worth mentioning, members of the UK government got upset and even talked about war. Well, this is something you can expect from a war crazy forum like this , but what the hell came to the minds of the UK politicians? Even if UK leaves the EU, it will still be part of NATO. It has been allied with Spain for decades, even won the cold war together. And now they are talking about war? Why? To me it shows how nervous and clueless the UK government is.
To me it seems that the two main results of the negotiations are already clear: the UK will close its borders and the EU will close its market. There will be some trade agreements, but in the end, conditions will be much worse than before. However, I am curious about a solution for Ireland. Both sides seem to want a permeable border there. But how can this be realized when UK wants to have impermeable borders to the EU? This is something I am really curious.
Conditions will better as there are no longer limitations on trading outside of the EU, and the EU will cave in as EU-countries WILL make agreements. It's a beauty really. I love the Brits for their 'just piss off' mentality. Hopefully we will be next. Diplomatic truth, the Netherlands agrees with England but obeys Germany. And that plumb childles eastblock farmhorse called Merkel makes it soooo easy, hermotivstions are her own, she doesn't have to import her little children that should come to her
Last edited by Fragony; 04-19-2017 at 13:50.
Money, I meant who has to pay for what.
Wishful thinking will not take the Brits very far, nor the Dutch. And hateful visions of a German domination does not meat reality at all.
I also love the Brits for their consequence. But they are used to blame the EU for everything. In the end, they will blame the EU that life will be so much worse after BREXIT. (sigh)
One example. You know that England is the homeland of football and each and every English I know still believes that England ought to be the leading country in football. In fact no other country spends so much money on football and the English league is the most expensive one in the world. However, the English team has not been able to match with the top nations for decades, Who is to blame. The EU of course. There are far too many middle class players from all over Europe playing in the major league, taking away chances for Engllish talents. After Brexit, things will become better, of course. Who am I to disagree. But if you look at the most successful teams of the last decades - Brazil, France, Spain, Italy, Germany - with one exception they are all members of the EU and they will remain.
No member of the UK's government talked about war, or the Falklands. It was Lord Howard who made the comparison between the rights of the Falklanders as defended by Margaret Thatcher and the defence of the Gibraltarians under Mrs May. Howard did not say "we will go to war" he said that we would defend the Gibraltarians as we had the Falklanders, which is true, I think.
Lord Howard is a former minister and Leader of the Opposition - he is not a member of the current government.
In any case, point being made is not that we expect Spain to attack Gibraltar, it is that there will simply be no give so long as 99% of Gibraltarians want to remain British and only British.
That is why the tone out of Westminster, and the UK as a whole, was combative - because we want it to be ABSOLUTELY clear there is no give. Why is that you ask? Last time we weren't clear, over the Falklands, we had to fight a costly war to make the point.
All of this against the background of Spain regularly and maliciously interfering with the land-border and invading Gibraltarian waters. Spain is not really a UK ally, we have quite frosty relations with them and only NATO guarantees we would not end up in a shooting war over this. Be assured, though, if there ever is such a war it will start with Spain, not the UK.
No, the UK will not "close its borders", it will most likely be the case that people from the EU will still be able to travel to the UK with relative ease, they just won't be able to work here without a Visa. That's not "closed borders" that's just less-than-full Freedom of Movement. The issue with Ireland has nothing to do with rights of residence though as all Irish people automatically have the right to reside in the UK, work in the UK and vote in the UK. The concern over the Irish border is to do with movement of goods, i.e. customs.To me it seems that the two main results of the negotiations are already clear: the UK will close its borders and the EU will close its market. There will be some trade agreements, but in the end, conditions will be much worse than before. However, I am curious about a solution for Ireland. Both sides seem to want a permeable border there. But how can this be realized when UK wants to have impermeable borders to the EU? This is something I am really curious.
Nobody's going to stop the Irish coming here, for one thing the British army would collapse!
Last edited by Philippus Flavius Homovallumus; 04-20-2017 at 11:24.
"If it wears trousers generally I don't pay attention."
[IMG]https://img197.imageshack.us/img197/4917/logoromans23pd.jpg[/IMG]
Where does this apply? Elections at all levels if you're a UK resident of Irish nationality? I presume not referenda, though.all Irish people automatically have the right to reside in the UK, work in the UK and vote in the UK
Vitiate Man.
History repeats the old conceits
The glib replies, the same defeats
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
"If it wears trousers generally I don't pay attention."
[IMG]https://img197.imageshack.us/img197/4917/logoromans23pd.jpg[/IMG]
I can't find anything on Irish nationals' vote on Brexit in 2016, or eligibility to do so. Figures I see for the number of people eligible to vote on the referendum (~46 million) seem to account just for the official UK population, and not any special consideration such as a potential eligibility of all Irish nationals.
On the other hand, Ireland's population is small enough that they may plausibly fall into the above figure without looking at a breakdown.
Last edited by Montmorency; 04-19-2017 at 20:53.
Vitiate Man.
History repeats the old conceits
The glib replies, the same defeats
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Here you go: https://www.theguardian.com/politics...k-after-brexit
We could, in theory, have an Irish Prime Minister.
"If it wears trousers generally I don't pay attention."
[IMG]https://img197.imageshack.us/img197/4917/logoromans23pd.jpg[/IMG]
OK, here's a direct answer:
So they do need to be residents of some nature.British, Irish and Commonwealth citizens who live in the UK, along with Britons who have lived abroad for less than 15 years, were eligible to vote.
Also, Maltese and Cyprian residents were eligible (noted for being both Commonwealth and EU citizens).
Vitiate Man.
History repeats the old conceits
The glib replies, the same defeats
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
"If it wears trousers generally I don't pay attention."
[IMG]https://img197.imageshack.us/img197/4917/logoromans23pd.jpg[/IMG]
"Topic is tired and needs a nap." - Tosa Inu
The reason of it was that under the EU the money wasn't spent effectively because of the beaurocracy in Brussels. England should introduce some kind of football tax which the will give England the edge over the EU and ensure the money isn't wasted like it used to be before Brexit.
So EU citizens can directly elect the non-EU country's government? And now you will tell me that Brexit was neccessary to stop EUnians poking their nose into the UK's business?
Please explain me that? Why was EU beaurocrazy leading to bad football? What shall a football tax do to improve English football? And why are other EU countries much more successful? (Even Greece and Portugal won the Euro Championship!!!!)The reason of it was that under the EU the money wasn't spent effectively because of the beaurocracy in Brussels. England should introduce some kind of football tax which the will give England the edge over the EU and ensure the money isn't wasted like it used to be before Brexit.
English footballers are among the best in the world, but English football has two problems.
1. Poor national-level management, especially picking "big name" players over the best team.
2. Everybody knows how English football works because we take so many players from other countries into out national league.
Basically, we are victims of our own success.
"If it wears trousers generally I don't pay attention."
[IMG]https://img197.imageshack.us/img197/4917/logoromans23pd.jpg[/IMG]
My sympathy.
1) may be right, I cannot judge this.
2) ? I do not think that the share of foreign players in England is bigger than in Germany. There was a discussion about that years ago. I think the Premier League is leading in marketing, so TV rights are sold all over the world and people watch them everywhere. Maybe they know English football this way.
Bookmarks