Posted on 03/26/2014 9:05:55 AM PDT by Olog-hai
Mounting tension in the Crimea is prompting calls for compulsory military service to be reintroduced in Germany.
A number of German ex-generals have raised fears over the nation’s military strength should it be drawn into a NATO-led conflict.
“We need compulsory military service. There is no other way for Germany to guarantee national defense within the [NATO] mutual defense alliance,” retired NATO general Egon Ramms told Bild newspaper. “[It certainly can’t be done] on a voluntary basis.”
Ramms was commander of the Allied Joint Forces Command between 2007 and 2010, one of the highest-ranking positions in the NATO alliance. …
(Excerpt) Read more at thelocal.de ...
I have mixed feelings about this.
The alternative is unthinkable.
Will it be called Molotov-Ribbentrop?
I remember the German draftees at Graf in 1969. I think they had a 1 year term of service. The one thing I remember was that they still wore the traditional “knoebelbecher” boots.
Years ago when I was in Europe for some military meetings, I had a German officer joke to me that they had to do a TDY to France every few decades.
“Don’t mention the war.”
“Don’t mention the war.”
Hahaha, yeah...
Q: “Hey, I notice in the German travel brochure that there is no mention of the war between 1939 and 1945, what is the deal.”
German tour guide: “We were all on vacation.”
Q: “No I’m pretty sure Germany invaded Poland”
German tour guide: “No, we were all on vacation, punch was served.”
If separating Western Ukraine (Galicia) makes the rest more digestible, it's very smart troublemaking.
And if undoing Stalin's territorial mistakes is suddenly on the table, then, boy, do Putin and Merkel have a lot to talk about.
Putin’s not the talking type, as we can see.
“And if undoing Stalin’s territorial mistakes is suddenly on the table, then, boy, do Putin and Merkel have a lot to talk about.
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Kaliningrad comes to mind for some inexplicable reason....
Party like it's 1795, will Austria and Hungary reunite? And how 'bout that reunion tour of Suleiman and the Ottomans?
The latter seems to be underway in Iran, Turkey et al.
BTW, Austria and Hungary have been reunited for ten years under the European Union aegis.
The Germans like their food, their STUFF, food, peace, food, travel and freedom to travel, food, great cars/roads, food, beer, food.
Did I mention FOOD?
How about Kaliningrad back to Germany?
I visited Austria a while back. BEAUTIFUL country, VERY different from Germany!
The Austrian tour guide (woman) laughingly said: "Haha, we keep trying to convince the world that Hitler was German and Beethoven was Austrian. Hahaha (or Jajaja)."
Hitler learned his virulent anti-Semitism in his first 20 (or so) years in Austria and thus arrived in Germany already inculcated with anti-Semitism.
And no, the Austrians and Germans are NOT the same.
I doubt if many people *don't* have mixed feelings about that. However, if the Germans followed the example of the Swiss, it might be a less volatile situation than outright conscription for a year or more.
Not to mention older people in eastern half of Germany are still thinking in Russian and consider Karl Marx the single greatest German. Not to mention that their grandchildren are way more leftist than their commie grandparents and taunt their commie old with a faul word ‘conservatives’.
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