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| Europe |
| Budget Squeeze Prompts Swedish Army to Go 9-To-5 |
| 2003-08-18 |
| Sweden’s armed forces will operate only during office hours for the rest of the year to cut costs, military headquarters said on Friday. They will also cut fighter plane patrols to a minimum, keep navy ships in port, mothball armored vehicles and stop using large caliber live ammunition during exercises. The center-left Social Democratic government has told the military to cut spending by 450 million crowns ($54.89 million) this year as part of an overall effort to keep the budget from falling into deficit. Militarily non-aligned Sweden spends just over 40 billion crowns per year on defense, or some 1.6 percent of gross domestic product. A parliamentary defense commission said in a recent report that the likelihood of Sweden facing a military threat in the foreseeable future was very small. It’s not like you were going to use it anyway. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #11 AP: Then they'll get screwed. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2003-8-18 11:12:54 PM |
| #10 tu3031---They get comp time. No budget for overtime. sorry. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2003-8-18 11:07:31 PM |
| #9 If there's a war, do they get time and a half for overtime? |
| Posted by: tu3031 2003-8-18 10:11:49 PM |
| #8 Soon the Swedes will be the slaves of the Nokia empire. Today Sweden tomorrow St. Pete. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2003-8-18 2:30:34 PM |
| #7 AP - we can hope, can't we? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2003-8-18 2:18:04 PM |
| #6 Are you fellows sure that Sweden has fallen into such financial straits that they would even consider the white slave trade as an economic way out of their problem? |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2003-8-18 2:11:04 PM |
| #5 Where doe's the bidding start? |
| Posted by: wills 2003-8-18 1:51:04 PM |
| #4 They could sell some surplus items to raise money. I would, for example, be willing to purchase this surplus item. |
| Posted by: Chuck Simmins 2003-8-18 1:39:13 PM |
| #3 Neutrality is a great gig if you can get it. "And how much iron ore this month, Herr Reichsfuhrer?" |
| Posted by: Matt 2003-8-18 1:30:27 PM |
| #2 Swedish Green Party protests the use of beacon fires, claims that they contribute to global warming and the loss of old growth forests cut down to fuel the fires. |
| Posted by: Steve 2003-8-18 1:28:26 PM |
| #1 But Sweden, ever fearful of an invasion from Finland and held in an anvil hold by economic giant Norway, issued a strongly worded warning that any attempt to destabilize it's borders would fail. A series of beacon fires are set up all along the borders that will quickly spread the alarm. An old but effective technology, each beacon is insight of the other. "we can light one beacon using a torch" said a spokeswoman, "that will be the signal to light each beacon in concert" she added. |
| Posted by: Lucky 2003-8-18 12:37:44 PM |