The Daily Trump

I doubt it. And even if it did, it wouldn’t be admitted aloud.

 

Blue Oyster?

 

I understand why you think that, but it's a common misconception. In the 10 years after WW2 they were not allowed to build any forces of note...they couldn't build peashooters without NATO permission
As you know West Germany was divided into three zones, British, US and French, not only to quell Germany but dissuade the Warsaw Pact on West Germany's border, however the war in Korea suggested that there could be war in Europe and the French Army had just been decisively beaten in Vietnam, NATO decided then that West Germany should be rearmed and were given the go ahead to restart the building of tanks which Ferdinand Porsche Jr ( the designer of the WW2 Tiger ) took up, which led eventually to Germany becoming western Europe's biggest tank and armoured vehicle manufacturer. The Luftwaffe was allowed to have 1,300 Jet fighters and the new army the Bundeswehr could have half a million men. which was broadly similar to France and Britain.
The real watershed came in the early 1960's when France were beaten again in Algeria and shortly afterwards De Gaulle took France out of the NATO command structure and refused to allow French forces to be under direct NATO control, ( they didn't return until 2009) that made France look like a distinctly flakey and militarily incompetent ally, and Germany took the lead as the core blocking force of a Warsaw Pact invasion across the North German Plains until UK and American forces could intervene...the French might intervene but that could no longer be guaranteed.
At the time of the fall of the Berlin wall Germany had around 600k soldiers, with a significant reserve that could put 1-2m trained troops with the best modern kit into the fight pretty quickly. To put that into perspective the British Army was down to just over 300k and the French around 550k, but of that total, sizeable numbers were abroad and the French total includes the Gendarmerie which France counts as troops.
After the wall fell Germany acqquired more weapons and trained manpower from the GDR than they really knew what to do with.
Most countries cut back, enjoying the peace dividend, but in 2010 Germany went further than any and stripped the core out of their military.

https://www.spiegel.de/internationa...ath-forward-for-the-german-army-a-708924.html

 

Ranking countries by military power uses some criteria that might surprise you. The size of the standing army is only one criteria as this gets churned very quickly in an all out war. The Uk has sophisticated weaponry, people trained to use it and some of the best trained troops in the world. BUT...it also has deep pockets (when it wants to have), a top line credit rating to borrow money to fund a war, a world leading intelligence gathering capacity, top line soft and diplomatic power. A network of allies and a degree of goodwill. It is also a global finance centre which can be leveraged. A factor acting against Russia is that it has a ghost tanker fleet to bust sanctions but these require insuring mostly through Lloyds of London and this has hampered Russia's efforts to fund its war by selling oil and LPG. What has weakened our military power is things like diminishing our industrial base, steel factories etc and things like the arab arm of the world service almost as much as selling off our two amphibious landing ships early with no replacements .
What actually needs to happen now, especially after that toe curling Vance and defence secretary speech is for Europe to turn its back on US arms supplies, cancel contracts and seek wherever possible european alternatives, proclaiming loudly they are doing this because the orange manchild has left them in no doubt the US is not an ally to be trusted. Image when big business waltzes into the oval office and says: What have you done?? Money and big business is all he understands. Will that happen??? Sadly No. The EU is incapable of any coherent response to even existential threats and has shown that time and time again.

 

Correct and german military procurement is wasteful even more than ours.

 

I honestly don’t see that. As you intimate Trump will be dead soon, but the ideas that have coalesced around him will not be. I know it’s hard for people of my generation to get their heads around it but I firmly believe the USA is well and truly ******, certainly as the ‘Leader’ of any set of western values around decency, respect and freedom. I don’t think there is any retreat from the increasing intolerant approach of America First that has such a hold on so many US citizens.

The harder bit will be European democracies (and others around the world) getting their tongues out of US arses. At the moment I think a few will be able to do that, and forge a new path. Sadly Britain will not be one of them.

 

It’s keeping them all on board though mate. I agree the far right element won’t take their foot off the gas, but they’re only a portion of his base.

I think there are a lot of people that only started voting when Trump came on the scene, and have been with him since 2016. Low info voters that love his celebrity. I think they’ll be bored once he’s gone.

I could be wrong of course. Just my gut feeling.

 

I understand the point mate. I just think we are now seeing a change in the US, and indeed many parts of the world, that is something we haven’t seen in our lifetime. And there’s no going back without serious conflict.

it was illustrated by Vance’s recent comments and the US Government’s cosying up to the Far Right in Germany. That has effectively shat all over the memory of the ‘Greatest Generation ‘ US service personnel who sacrificed their lives in WW2). Those comments are a very big deal and you wouldn’t have been able to make them, even 10 years ago, without committing political suicide. Now? Barely any murmur of decent.
Similarly in Britain, the words and deeds of so many seem to strongly suggest that they believe the problem with WW 2 is ‘the wrong side won’. Appalling.
I think these changes are coming about now because we have lost the collective memory of what the conflicts through the 30s and 40s were all about. If we don’t remind ourselves quickly, we’re likely to repeat the mistakes and this time I’m not sure the USA and the UK will be on the side of the ‘Good Guys’.

 

I'm not sure anyone will be on the side of the good guys.

 

https://news.sky.com/story/ice-hock...s-three-fights-in-first-nine-seconds-13310607

 

The most dangerous person on the planet bar none enabled by a bunch of spineless acolytes

 

From the latest executive order, this really is a ridiculous power grab, and not something you would do if you think you might ever cede power...

 

So much for their bill of rights!

 

I was reading something about this yesterday, and the likes of Musk, Trump, Thiel and Zuckerberg seem to like the Oligarch system from Russia - where a small number of very rich people have absolute power - but seem to have overlooked the number of Russian oligarchs that accidentally fall out of windows. If Musk, as the richest man in the world, has absolute power then all it takes is Zuckerberg to pay someone to cause Musk to have an accident and he has that power.

These systems are inherently unstable and corrupt.

 

If I were Zelenskyy and Putin does meet Trump to make a deal, I'd be getting my special forces ready to pay them a visit...

 

The world is completely fcked. Europe needs to stand up now, but then what happens if the Germans get the AfD and French go with Le Pen? Worrying times.

 

I can honestly see the persecution of minorities across the majority of Europe and the Tories plan to relocate people to Rwanda being persued by a number of European countries, Hispanics in America being evicted to Mexico etc etc. The world is about to become a very, very nasty place.

 

He did say he was going to be a dictator. The populists among us said he'd never do such a thing.

Also stated that Musk has culled 95,000 jobs so far and about to get his hands on treasury, tax and payroll data. He's also supposedly given a joint interview with Trump to Fox.

Though terrifying, I'm sort of curious who will do the other over first. Musk or Trump.