Quick, Europe. Conscript!
Generating fear to fund war.
Published: 2024-06-27
The Financial Times have issued a doom and gloom article on the state of military affairs, focusing on the number of troops, in Europe.
Here's a summary of the 2600 words of scare mongering.
The words in bold:
The problem of shrinking military [manpower]
If more Europeans do not choose [military careers]
An article quote:
According to Ben Barry, a former brigadier and senior fellow at IISS, it has been politically expedient to focus on bolstered budgets and impressive procurement programmes, but few national decision makers have wanted to get to grips with the thornier challenge of signing more citizens up to fight.
“We’re at the tipping point of critical mass,”
The article's conclusive two paragraphs (from the Council on Foreign Relations in Germany even!):
For Mölling at the German Council on Foreign Relations, the problem is solvable. “More and more people in Europe recognise the service of the armed forces,” he says. “We just have to work out how to make a career in the military work for people.”
“The difference between us and Putin is that for us it’s not just about headcount,” he says. “We are not just giving people a uniform and sending them to their death. We care about our soldiers. We have to communicate that better, but ultimately I think we have time on our side.”
The context for this article is obviously the NATO war in Ukraine with Russia.
How many times do the words peace or diplomacy appear? Yep. 0.
Expect more of this. Even in the poor economic state which the leaders of Europe have placed the continent, they want to spend more money on the military rather than look for solutions. There will be no discussing a security architecture. There will be no diplomacy. There will be no negotiations. There will be no talk of peace.
You, citizen of Europe, need to authorize your government to spend money on the military so that they can prepare to launch a larger war against the evil Russians who have just told you they have no interest in you whatsoever, and offered a settlement for the conflict which European NATO member states are supporting.
Yes, be afraid. But, not of Russia. Fear your current political and technocratic "leadership" who are destroying your economies and leading your further to war.
Naturally, Andrei Martyanov just laughs at the whole thing.
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Sources
Wanted: new soldiers for Europe’s shrinking armies (archived), Sam Jones & John Paul Rathbone, Financial Times, 2024-06-26
And?, Andrei Martyanov, Reminiscence of the Future ..., 2024-06-26
Copyleft: CC0
Damned fools will get us all killed if they get their way.
They ought to offer up their own kids and selves first
But, but they just held a peace conference with people they aren't angry at or in conflict with. Isn't that diplomacy?
Ohh I get it, they were supposed to invite Putin or his representative.