Let’s not oversell the french
they eat slugs
GF is french…
I can validate this statement
I think the Polish would be quite keen for the Russians to try, they very much haven’t forgotten the USSR.
The guy on the mandatoryfunday account on the social medias agrees with that assessment of the Polish, I think.
But they still have the Germans behind them
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We’re already paying far too much tax: it just needs to be allocated better. Defence is the first duty of government and should have the biggest slice of the pie. The effects of cuts elsewhere are far less serious than the existential threat to our security.
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I’m sure Doctors would argue that the Health of the people Is most vital
Teachers, educating the masses
Homeless people, housing the Populus etc.
I don’t disagree that defence is vital and underfunded, but we must not go down the Yank route and have a crumbling Internal state for the sake of a Big military
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The state cannot do a single one of those things if it ceases to exist under hostile occupation.
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Costa Rica must be a failed state in that case.
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Russians going for the (understandable) strategy of deterrence for foreign volunteers. Although it was always going to be a harsh sentence with him having been captured on internationally-recognised Russian territory.
Surely the location is irrelevant. They’re at war. So should he not be treated as a POW, rather than a criminal?
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The Russian’s argument has always been that foreigners fighting for Ukraine are mercenaries, and therefore not subject to the same protections as combatants.
To call it dodgy ground would be an understatement, but understanding that mindset makes their approach make more sense.
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In my opinion war is not great but we don’t have much of a choice.
This is interesting
Poland to train all adult men in mil skills (no I don’t know why not women too - heck the best shots on my Sqn are almost always female!)
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Putin is many things, but he’s not an idiot. He knows that NATO will not launch a first strike on Russia, and I doubt he has any intentions of launching a first strike on NATO if he can avoid it, as it will mean Russia gets nuked too. Ukraine isn’t Russia, so most of what NATO would do there he can spin somehow to avoid having to nuke anyone.
It will be interesting to see what China does now though. They’ve long been seen as…not the enemy, but not particularly friendly either. They have a golden opportunity to change their position on the world stage. Will they take it?
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Not the Chinese way.
To paraphrase, best not to interrupt the enemy when they are making a mistake.
China plays a very long game.
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At this point, China is probably patiently waiting for the orders to come in from anyone boycotting or getting hit with tariffs by the US.
BYD are probably feeling good right now.
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I toyed with getting one!
China entered into a phase a few years ago where they reap the benefits of all the outsourcing the rest of the world made.
Unsurprisingly, if you pay people to do a certain thing for long enough then they get pretty good at it…
Then they start making their own stuff (occasionally taking inspiration from your designs).
Also, costs in China re far lower and health and safety considerations are not at the top of the list. China also has food pricing controls on all the staple foods.