We probably couldn’t have fought the first Gulf War without most of our European installations. Well, we could, but the ground campaign would have been much more limited. Probably Oliveritaly can tell you more about that - I don’t know the first thing about military logistics and so forth except in the most general terms.
You’re welcome!
Your link states that Ford has already received $5.9 billion in loans to re-tool to produce more fuel efficient cars. We need to subsidize them even further?
You should check those figures again. The numbers I cited are not from the combined category they are from the “Domestic” row. Separate numbers for “Import” suggests to me that the numbers I cited are at worst for domestic manufacturers vehicles. Which is what we are talking about.
The numbers show that the while domestic manufacturers may not be meeting CAFE standards on time it is indisputable that the standards are having their desired effect. Significant fleet wide and industry wide improvements in fuel efficiency.
And we can build a massive interstate system and the worlds largest particle collider… oh wait, we kind of pulled out of that one at the last minute (more like the just after starting, but $2+ billion is nothing to sneeze at).
I really do get the point you are trying to make. I just think the Democrats shouldn’t be subsidizing the auto industry.
As has already been said, officially Germany’s constitution forbids any offensive war. So the only way Germany’s army can be used is for peacekeeping missions as part of UN forces, or as part of NATO forces.
Realistically, with the fall of the Iron Curtain, the possibility of defending against an attack has fallen so far as to be unlikely. Therefore, German military has steadily been cut. The last act was this year when the draft was finally abolished - whether this is a good idea or not can be debated*, but in practice it means that that instead of a wide citizens army we now have a paid professional specialized small force.
Could this small force “hold their own”? Depends on what scenario we are talking about - the Russians coming over is not realistic anymore. If the US suddenly decides to stop with their current policy and tactics and withdraw their armies from every foreign place, telling the allies to pick up the slack, the other countries in the NATO and the UN forces would need to expand again, which wouldn’t happen in a week, but take a year or more. Would people bitch about the money wasted on military? Yes, likely. Would they do it? Yes, a vacuum needs to be filled, and as we saw in Afghanistan in the 80s, leaving a country in a mess is not a good solution because when it goes to hell, it bothers other states, too. Would there be less incentive to start new adventures in foreign countries because of less hawkish politicians over here? Likely.
Pretty much. I guess if some Arab state got its genie wish and formed a stable coalition/empire spanning the whole Middle East/Northern Africa we could get mildly bothered like in the good ol’ days of the Ottomans… but then again with Turkey almost begging to be part of the EU an invasion from that corner doesn’t seem too likely either.
Not that it stops us all from still plowing ungodly amounts of money into cutting edge military tech for some reason. I guess we simply CANNOT ALLOW an annual military parade gap !
No, no, if you cut research and development of the new Eurofighter or Leopard tank, all those poor million-dollar weapon companies will loose those profitable contracts, hence all those lobbyists pushing how important shiny new weapons are. And of course we can keep selling them. Okay, officially the law forbids the sale of weapons into “troubled” regions where dictatorial regimes could use them to oppress the population - but peaceful countries don’t spend as much money on weapons as troubled regions! And the wonderful thing is, because everything relating to weapons is top-secret, they don’t have to tell parliament where how many of what weapons are being sold! /end sarcasm
I really wish that Germany would loose that spot among the top 3 weapons exporters in the world after the US and Russia. That’s not something we need to do! And it will bite us in the ass, as when, like in Egypt, regimes get overthrown and the oppressed population is pissed at the countries which kept the oppressors well stocked in weapons like tanks, and refuse further business or worse.
(typing for the first time on an iPad … Forgive the typos!)
At the risk of further derailing try’s OP I have to say my wife and I love your country constanze ;-). If I could only get the German lifestyle with the Italian weather … Well you can’t have it all.
I forgot all about the end of conscription in germany. Can honestly say that having worked with your professional officers, NCOs and civilians I have never been anything less than impressed. There is a major in the operations section of the unit I work for that I go to for direction. He’s a German officer and he’s just that good. He’s one of those kinds of people that you don’t care if they are mad at you, as long as you don’t feel like you let them down … If that makes sense.
I knew about the work that young people did outside of the military in hospitals and such … Do you think that the end of the “draft” is a good thing nationally or not?
Again fist time on this iPad and well, German beer (it’s friday after all!)
Thank you kindly.
That’s what we all want! That’s why our cleaning ladies fly to Mallorca and people travel to Italy and Turkey all the time … because it’s warm and you can bathe there. 
As I said above, I think we should have a citizens army and not a professional army. But cutting the conscription time continually was an idiot move anyway. Personally, I would institute a “National year” or similar where every person when turning 18 does work for the society for one year. We already have the volunteer social year and volunteer ecological year where people can try out jobs in the social or ecological sector while being paid pocket money and housing/ food.
One major problem of the draft was that it affected only men, giving girls who didn’t volunteer for the FSJ instead a leg up during University and career.
And the problem with social service instead of Military was that it was used - against intentions - to replace needed professionals who would have cost more.
I would like to see that rectified, too: hire more pros and pay them better to nurse old people etc.
The official replacement for the “Zivis” (civil service) are now the “Bufdis”, the federal volunteer service, which accepts people older than teens/twens too, and not only full-time, but also half-time. But the social services, that is, Diakonie and similar, have been crying out that only a small percentage of volunteers have come up so far compared to the numbers of Zivis before.
The people working in the national service year I would give week-long seminars regularly about how a democracy and society works and why participation is so important. I think actually doing something would change a lot of young people’s perspective in general, as well as getting them interested individually in special jobs they might not have thought of otherwise.
The main problems with a national service year are:
people will remember the Reichsarbeitsdienst (national work service) during the Nazi time, when all otherwise unemployed got put to work by force.
the federal govt. would have to pay, which it doesn’t like to do.
We turned try’s rant into a rational conversation … Sorry try2b … Honestly I think we can afford both.
Also because this is the BBQ pit … Fuck you, you fucking fuck.
…
My wife explained this to me last night. If we lose Ramstein, that’s a whole lot of the Industrial, Goth and Metal scene right there. But if they shut Mannheim down, then we lose the whole Fresh Aire and Christmas music industry, as well.
We can all agree that a world where the Trans-Siberians take hold is a bad thing, right?
You’re right. I didn’t notice that line. And yes, fuel efficiency is improving - but that could be the natural result of progress as much as a legislative mandate.
Darth … Fuck you, I just belly laughed. The Mannheim Xmas market is still very strong.
Definitely, I prefer Manchester.
Yah well maybe I need to go further into detail into what I am getting at.
From Motortrend, here’s a bit about the future of CAFE standards:
And hybrid tech allows for gas-free operation, which is as MPG efficient as you can possibly get.
Cut loan subsidies and you risk falling off the carbon-reduction pace, and also the fuel-efficiency pace. All the best-sense data indicates that we’d truly rather do neither, no matter what market forces seem to indicate, so the free-marketer absolutists ought to just fuck right off in this case.
Yeah, that’s ok. Might as well. Ever since I got over the oil spill I just don’t seem to have it in me to devolve into sheer boiling senseless fury anymore.
Now, ‘afford both’ rants and conversations, or 700 air bases and also auto supply chain infrastructure?
Oh yeah?
:mad: <---- Take THAT!
Why not?
There is no Industrial, Goth, or Metal scene in Ramstein. All the Germans listen to is either hip hop for the young kids or jazz and blues for the adults. The closest place to see any rock and roll at all is in Saarbrucken an hour away from here. The band Rammstein was named for the Ramstein Air Show disaster where 70 people died and 346 were seriously injured due to Italian airplqnes colliding in midair.