"Remember, it's a dachshund's life in the modern EU army!"
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| Europe | ||
| Germany calls for EU army | ||
| 2007-03-23 | ||
The European Union should move towards forming a common army, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in a newspaper interview published on Friday. Asked how she saw the EU developing in the next 50 years, Merkel told daily newspaper Bild: "In the EU itself we must come closer to a common European army."
Last year, Polish President Lech Kaczynski said his country wanted a new 100,000-strong European Union army created to work with NATO in trouble spots in the world or to defend Europe. Merkel is hosting a summit this weekend in Berlin where the bloc will celebrate its 50th anniversary and unveil a declaration setting out its values and achievements. Merkel hopes the so-called "Berlin Declaration" will be a springboard for her revival of the European constitution, rejected by French and Dutch voters in 2005. Merkel told Bild the EU's 27 member states often spent too long grappling with issues under the bloc's existing structure. "To change that, we need the EU constitution, which suits the decision mechanism of the larger EU," she said.
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| Posted by:Steve |
| #22 Dammit! Kobe the Rat is about to top 50 points again. Double team that conceited creep. On topic, an EU army would have to have a fixed quota of Muslims. And Euros are required to believe that Islam is a religion of peace. Do you people know that Dutch soldiers can wear their hair down their waste, if they want. Taliban might think they are fighting a hair band. |
| Posted by: Sneaze 2007-03-23 21:57 |
| #21 #19 Yep. |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2007-03-23 19:04 |
| #20 Swiss COAST GUARD Hey! Ship, you must have stolen that outta my latest book: "Great Swiss Naval Battles". It's selling almost as well as my other title: "Stage Lighting Effects for Radio Broadcasting". |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-03-23 16:45 |
| #19 Grom- Ol' Tom understood, didn't he?... Mike |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2007-03-23 14:41 |
| #18 Steve S-No, but I might call you a history buff. :) |
| Posted by: Jules 2007-03-23 14:28 |
| #17 Would you call me cynical if I said the people with the most to fear from an EU army are the citizens of the EU member states? |
| Posted by: SteveS 2007-03-23 14:07 |
| #16 But seriously Poland CIA |
| Posted by: Shipman 2007-03-23 14:02 |
| #15 Swiss COAST GUARD |
| Posted by: Shipman 2007-03-23 14:02 |
| #14 The US has four services plus the Coast Guard. It's not hard to imagine the Europeans coming up with something similar. English NAVY German ARMY French MARINES English AIRFORCE Spanish/Italian COASTGUARD Swedish PEACECORPS Build the base around that. Each service has it's own special forces and like the US each service would want to have enough air and logistics to cover themselves. It's doable, if they have the will. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2007-03-23 13:09 |
| #13 An2-I understand what you're saying, but try to find a single American political leader willing to proceed from that. Europe will have to decide for itself what represents a bigger threat: American world leadership or Islamic overthrow. If they choose neither and pick option 3 (work for their own rise to superpowerdom by playing both sides and dragging this all out), demographics will decide it for them. |
| Posted by: Jules 2007-03-23 13:08 |
| #12 Jules, we are and have always been the enemy. |
| Posted by: anonymous2u 2007-03-23 12:49 |
| #11 [Does obeisance to the ghost of Cyril Ritchard] I'm one of the Whitehall warriors! I look so immensely picturesque Behind an expensive walnut desk I'm one of the Whitehall warriors! I'm fighting the Hun Without any gun; This boy's allergic to noise. I'm one of the Whitehall warriors! I'm one of the Red Tape Brigade. At a stroke of the pen I set thousands of men Making bicycle clips for the troops. I supply every button And shoulder of mutton And sample the various soups. I'm one of the Whitehall warriors! I've answered the call, Whitehall! I start at ten and leave off again For me lunch at twenty-five to one; I'm back at three, at four cup of tea. And five the busy day is done. I stroll around St. James Park Two dry martinis at the Berkeley, Then back to the club For some excellent grub. Isn't war an awful lot of fun? |
| Posted by: Fred 2007-03-23 11:57 |
| #10 If this army is anything like the European Union's bureaucracy it'll make UNFIL look like a mean, lean fighting machine. How many |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-03-23 11:54 |
| #9 The equipment issue is being solved by orders from Brussels on purchasing. Read EU Referendum for the complete run down on the mess that is the UK armed forces procurment. |
| Posted by: AlanC 2007-03-23 11:45 |
| #8 The language will be French. It goes without saying. How else will they be able to conduct exercises with l'armée du Québec? |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2007-03-23 11:35 |
| #7 There is almso tyhe little problem of language barreer. One of the reasons of the less than stellar erforamnce of iùmperial Austrian army in 18th and 19th century was that competenet officers weren't assigned go where they would do most good but where they could communicate with the peole they commanded. |
| Posted by: JFM 2007-03-23 11:22 |
| #6 "Remember, it's a dachshund's life in the modern EU army!" |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2007-03-23 11:12 |
| #5 I am glad to see that they are putting together an army to defend their union. They deserve our encouragement for that. I have bigger doubts about whether they any longer have the will to use force when necessary or the honesty/courage to recognize an enemy that threatens their very existence. |
| Posted by: Jules 2007-03-23 11:03 |
| #4 This is an idea that has been around for at least 20 years. One of the problems with that common army is that the military doctrines (and equipment) for these countries is completely different. French doctrine is almost completely the opposite of British doctrine, etc. This is something the politicians want and the militaries can't stand. The politicians pursue it because they think they won't have to deal with the consequences. The EUrocrats better hope that they never have to face an enemy stronger than the Taliban, or their "Joint Task Forces" will fall apart on the battlefield. Al |
| Posted by: Frozen Al 2007-03-23 10:56 |
| #3 Nah, they just recognize that the Americans are not likely to be willing to bury any more of their youth and blood over Euros and that when they're gone, they're not coming back. That, and it's a German thing in which you need someone in a real spiffy uniform for the surrender ceremony. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2007-03-23 10:48 |
| #2 Sleep, baby, sleep, in peace may you slumber, No danger lurks, your sleep to encumber. We've got the missiles, peace to determine, And one of the fingers on the button will be German. |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2007-03-23 10:13 |
| #1 They will need an army to keep the peasants from revolting. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2007-03-23 10:09 |