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Old 19th May 2021, 19:22
  #329 (permalink)  
langleybaston
 
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Baston
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The majority of European countries [other than those ex-Warsaw Pact/ East Bloc] may or may not have national contingency planners, tasked with [amongst other matters] the likelihood of being involved involuntarily in a shooting war. I say involuntarily because, with the exception of France, none of them pokes a nose into intervention. I set NATO membership aside for the moment.

The contingency planners [or, in their absence, "Defence"] are clearly not at all worried, spending tax funds on preparedness is not good politics. Thus, minimal funding, no long term planning, more generals than tanks, broomsticks for rifles, ADAC for rotary..

Returning to NATO, it has become a low-cost insurance policy of demonstrably poor value, and the insurers [USA and UK primarily] clearly believe that their risk, in Europe, is small.

Europe has a lot of things to worry about, and defence, rightly or wrongly, is not deemed anywhere near the top. A little posturing every now and then keeps the illusion of preparedness going, and, who knows, they might be right.

They had better be.
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