https://archive.is/PcuDv I think it's a fine line to walk: keep some so cars have to drive slowly, repair others to keep cyclists save

There’s these guys: https://peertube.wtf/c/[email protected] Never watched any of their videos though.

I suppose Swiss neutrality and its side effects radicalised the Swiss. Remember when Germany tried to buy ammunition made in Switzerland for the Gepard self-propelled AA systems donated to Ukraine and got the sale denied due to neutrality? I'm sure pretty much every potential customer of the Swiss arms industry took notice of that. Now with a Trump induced European arms buying frenzy coming, Switzerland wants a piece of the cake after all.

See that's the word Russia is against. "Sovereign." Sovereign: One that exercises supreme, permanent authority, especially in a nation or other governmental unit, as. Putin, in his glorious mind, thinks that the only sovereign is the Kremlin. Belarus, Hungary, formerly Ukraine and now the US are all vassal states to him. Why? Who the fuck knows. Maybe it's because his $100m (or whatever it's value is) is pretty damn sad looking for a mansion, and the Western world endlessly mocks his lack of true luxury. Maybe it's because so much money is frozen in other countries. Maybe it's because he has a developmental disorder and is incapable of seeing value in human beings. Maybe it's because he's Russian, and things are a bit different there. Sovereign nations do as they please. In his mind it translates to his wealth being cutoff, because that's what sovereign nations do. Not that the wealth is cut off because of his actions. To him, he is never wrong. So then every sovereign nation must be wrong.

They can undermine the momentum of Die Linke too plesse.

What could possibly go wrong if you shove a few hundred drunk and stoned kids into a small compartment filled with plastic?

Didn't want to include too much information in ine comment, but yeah.. you're right

People is not very keen to follow the rearm leaders https://feddit.it/post/15743177

We need a volunteer to travel to Washington for negotiating a tremendous egg deal (the best in the world) only to throw a rotten egg into the orange turd's face during the press conference.

https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/en/web/products-eurostat-news/w/ddn-20250314-3 The Eurostat page looks much better in terms of the information it provides. Even better: Eurostat | Statistics Explained | Mortality and life expectancy statistics Life expectancy at birth has risen rapidly during the past century due to a number of factors. These include a reduction in infant mortality, rising living standards, improved lifestyles and better education, as well as advances in healthcare and medicine. Official statistics reveal that life expectancy has risen, on average, by more than two years per decade since the 1960s. In 2020, however, after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, this indicator declined in 25 EU countries compared to 2019, the exceptions being Denmark and Cyprus. In 2023, life expectancy at birth was equal to or higher than in 2019 in 21 EU countries. By contrast life expectancy fell in 6 EU countries: Finland (-0.5 years), the Netherlands (-0.3 years), Germany (-0.2 years) to Italy, Latvia and Austria (all -0.1 years). [image: 608dd9d9-a29c-4852-a36f-83184fe4df6b.jpeg]

Yes & No. There is still vehicle combat going on. Note I did list 3 billion, over 10% of entire procurement, for drones. 0 extra manned aircraft. For reference, if a F35 is 100 million, 35 planes comes to 3.5 billion. (does not include maintenance, pilots, various weaponry etc). With the mention that after 10 years, this would go up. But the jury is out on what type & capability of drones we as Belgium would be willing to 'mass up' on. There is a latency in the EU on actually massing drones. There is political oppossition to high degree of autonomy on lethal weapons. At some point however, there is a strong cross-over between an Air-to-Air missile homing in on radar signature, a missile with 'lock on after launch' capability using a thermal imaging system, and a drone with a camera. The 40mm CTA cannon has a significant airburst (and penetration) capability. Whilst having approx the same number of rounds as a 30mm cannon carried. So I'd hope it'd be quite capable vs the current drones (with sensors to actually target drones). Modern vehicles should also increasingly be equipped with active protection systems that include countering drones. What we are currently seeing is that it is very difficult to acquire hi-tech kit once a conflict is already happening. 'you fight with what you have'. Not to mention training. At EU & Nato level, it also simply won't be accepted for Belgium to just not have 'front line' units. ('don't worry guys, we'll play airport police' is not going to fly anymore) I also used 'only' (heh) 30% of a hypothetical budget doubling. There should still be R&D and infrastructure setup going on. But I think it'll take another 10 years to truly accept the new drone reality and have a doctrinal implementation ready. 3 billion extra for drones in the mean time is not peanuts. The GCAP is at least 10 years away. The FCAS is for 2040's (and imo, after 2045), but might see a high-capability drone earlier. What we should avoid in the meantime is more light infantry (= drone targets), lack of anti-air (4.5 billion in above proposal set aside for pure anti-air), buying more American kit (bad Theo! sit!), and buying very diverse/low numerical kit with different ammunition. (I'd hope Belgium can 'standardize' on the 40mm CTA now, and produce our own ammo. In fact, I'd be in favor of moving away from the 40mm Bofors for our ships to this gun, change our 30mm to this gun etc.) Likewise, I'd hope the EU tank project sees a Leopard 2 successor become the 'default European' tank. Currently this is not reaally the case for IFV's, but the CV90, Boxer, and Patria AMV all have multiple users at least.

Oh, the Abogados Cristianos are involved. Those are some bunch of assholes from what I heard. This is what Le Chat tells me, but there are much more. I found an article here: https://www.diario.red/articulo/actualidad/echenique-queque-willy-toledo-lalachus-larga-lista-ataques-abogados-cristianos/20250103160940040683.html „ The Spanish Association of Christian Lawyers (Abogados Cristianos) has filed hundreds of lawsuits, complaints, and appeals, but their goal is not necessarily to achieve judicial success—as they know what they are doing—but rather to create a long-term strategy from the right-wing political, media, and judicial spheres aimed at gaining public visibility and undermining the adversary's credibility and rights. They have done this with the right to abortion, with the law of amnesty, with the law that guarantees consent, and with a long list of attacks (including those against the Ombudsman) from which it is worth highlighting the complaint they filed against the activists who were protesting in the cathedral of Alcalá de Henares against therapy to "cure" homosexuality; against the artist Abel Azcona for a work that denounced abuses in the Catholic Church; against clinics that perform abortions; against the director of the Reina Sofía Museum for hosting an exhibition that included an image of a crucified Christ at the urinal; against the artist Drag Sethlas for quoting "blasphemous phrases" in a performance; against the mayors who removed crosses using the Law of Historical Memory as an excuse; against those responsible for the comic 'El Niño Jesús no odia a los mariquitas'; against feminists in general for the supposed "gender ideology"; against Willy Toledo for calling them "troglodytes" and "ultra-rightists"; against Wyoming for dressing up as a bishop of the so-called 'Aznarian Church' in reference to the latest appearance of the popular leader José María Aznar, accusing him of making "humiliating statements for Catholics"; against the comedian Quequé for a joke on his show about "dynamiting the Valley of the Fallen"; against Pablo Echenique for stating on social media that "it is much more likely for a priest to commit a sexual assault against minors than for a migrant person to commit a crime." And a long etcetera to not bore anyone. The latest of their complaints has been suffered by the comedian Lalachus, a collaborator of David Broncano's program and presenter of the New Year's Eve special on TVE this year. Why in this case? For alleged crimes of hatred and against religious sentiments after showing an image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus with the head of the Grand Prix cow during the broadcast of the New Year's Eve special. The modus operandi of the association backed by Vox is always the same. They aim to create controversy by alleging crimes of hatred and offenses against religious sentiments, spreading these allegations through the media, especially through right-wing media outlets, and ultimately, when judicial recourse is exhausted or dismissed, no one remembers it. In other words, they make politics through lawsuits with the aim of attacking social rights or women's rights and thereby targeting the most vulnerable groups.„