German military machine grows (Rheinmetall/MAN merger)

[edg]

Shh, don't mention it to AI.

Surley you guys understand the diffrence between long long ago history and modern history?

If you guys dont want to take modern history on board when trying to understand / talk about current affairs you will lose every argumant every time.

[The Field Marshal]

Surley you guys understand the diffrence between long long ago history and modern history?

If you guys dont want to take modern history on board when trying to understand / talk about current affairs you will lose every argumant every time.

Thats a superficial view not supported by experience.

You also deny the continuity of history and its ability to influence contemporary events

The term "modern history" is arbitrarily defined and of limited usefullness wrt to assessing the history and character of a nation.

Germanys powerful militaristic roots go back at least as far as Frederick 11. and supposedly were extirpated by the, wishful thinking ,1945+ anti-nazification programmes of the US .

[absconded]

I would imagine 65 years of unprecedented peace in Western Europe, this golden age we are living in is recent/modern history. Only brought about by people agreeing to bury the hatchet. Nobody I know or have met is looking back with any regrets You can´t even tell where the borders are anymore.
So when somebody in lalaland dreams up a scenario whereby the Jerries are planning to take over the world again you just have to laugh. Tanks, trucks, warships, planes APCs are big business. The Germans are good at heavy engineering and design. And there´s no reason they shouldn´t be allowed sell what they make so well just because of a marginalised tiny minority of headcases who see a bogieman at every corner.

[ibis]

I would imagine 65 years of unprecedented peace in Western Europe, this golden age we are living in is recent/modern history. Only brought about by people agreeing to bury the hatchet. Nobody I know or have met is looking back with any regrets You can´t even tell where the borders are anymore.
So when somebody in lalaland dreams up a scenario whereby the Jerries are planning to take over the world again you just have to laugh. Tanks, trucks, warships, planes APCs are big business. The Germans are good at heavy engineering and design. And there´s no reason they shouldn´t be allowed sell what they make so well just because of a marginalised tiny minority of headcases who see a bogieman at every corner.

No, no, you clearly don't understand! The peace in Europe wasn't the result of the European countries agreeing to be peaceful. That's simply not possible because they're vicious warmongering imperialists*. The peace in Europe was enforced by the US (all praise!), because the US isn't a vicious warmongering imperialist**, and only lefties say it is.

Something like that, anyway.

*[SIZE="1"]as proven by their recent actions in Iraq etc[/SIZE]
**[SIZE="1"]as proven by their recent actions in Iraq etc[/SIZE]

[edg]

Thats a superficial view not supported by experience.

You also deny the continuity of history and its ability to influence contemporary events

The term "modern history" is arbitrarily defined and of limited usefullness wrt to assessing the history and character of a nation.

Germanys powerful militaristic roots go back at least as far as Frederick 11. and supposedly were extirpated by the, wishful thinking ,1945+ anti-nazification programmes of the US .

If you want to ignore modern history when discussing current events thats up to you.

What I cant understand is why you would think understanding modern history in relation to current events is superficial?

Let me guess, you got turned down for a credit card as they used your past payment history as a superficial reason to turn you down for credit.

[The Field Marshal]

I would imagine 65 years of unprecedented peace in Western Europe, this golden age we are living in is recent/modern history. Only brought about by people agreeing to bury the hatchet. Nobody I know or have met is looking back with any regrets You can´t even tell where the borders are anymore.
So when somebody in lalaland dreams up a scenario whereby the Jerries are planning to take over the world again you just have to laugh. Tanks, trucks, warships, planes APCs are big business. The Germans are good at heavy engineering and design. And there´s no reason they shouldn´t be allowed sell what they make so well just because of a marginalised tiny minority of headcases who see a bogieman at every corner.

You are right that we have lived in an era of almost unparalleled political stability in Western Europe.

Its not that we see the Germans as taking over the world at all.

You clearly want to see Germany with a huge war productions industry.

Obviously therefore in the laland that you inhabit you would also like to see
all of Europe engaged at high level in the manufacture of munitions for sale to politically unstable wealthy countries and that would be good for the kind of big business that you admire so much.

You also obviously think that selling these heavy armaments is a very good way of burying the hatchet between the competing buyers of these armaments.

Eventually when one of these competing buyers of arms ,having blown up all his competitors will see that Europe has no borders anymore and will say :"hmm looks like an interesting place.
Why they sold me loads of guns.
They have no borders,Great. Lets go there."

This is your scenario for another 65 years of peace in Europe?

[absconded]

You are right that we have lived in an era of almost unparalleled political stability in Western Europe.

Its not that we see the Germans as taking over the world at all.

You clearly want to see Germany with a huge war productions industry.

Obviously therefore in the laland that you inhabit you would also like to see
all of Europe engaged at high level in the manufacture of munitions for sale to politically unstable wealthy countries and that would be good for the kind of big business that you admire so much.

You also obviously think that selling these heavy armaments is a very good way of burying the hatchet between the competing buyers of these armaments.

Eventually when one of these competing buyers of arms ,having blown up all his competitors will see that Europe has no borders anymore and will say :"hmm looks like an interesting place.
Why they sold me loads of guns.
They have no borders,Great. Lets go there."

This is your scenario for another 65 years of peace in Europe?

Ah, now I get it. It´s weapons and defensive equipment that you have a problem with. Unknown to you, there´s a well regulated international trade in the business. All Western exports have to have government approval. Less than stable democracies however can still get their killing equipment from other sources and it´s no trouble to pick up a bulk order at discount rates and import them.
You remind me of the Patricia Mc Kenna gaff on calling PDF purchases of APCs as "Toys For The Boys". You like her maybe would rather have our lads patroling in dangerous dusty areas in Nissan Patrols.

[The Field Marshal]

If you want to ignore modern history when discussing current events thats up to you.

What I cant understand is why you would think understanding modern history in relation to current events is superficial?

Let me guess, you got turned down for a credit card as they used your past payment history as a superficial reason to turn you down for credit.

Its surprising you even know what a credit card is when your understanding of basic english is so deficient.Perhaps english is not your first language.

At no stage in my post did I advocate ignoring what you term "modern history".

I repeat for t h o s e w h o a r e a b i t s l o w .

History is a continuum. [You edg will need to consult that word in a dictionary]
A continuum means that history is to be examined up to the present.

For those ,whose wits are slow. that means studying what is termed modern history.

However [again for the slow witted.]

Studying modern history alone can only give you a superficial understanding of a countrys story.

[Sorry posters but edg needs a lot of help on this one].

[The Field Marshal]

Ah, now I get it. It´s weapons and defensive equipment that you have a problem with. Unknown to you, there´s a well regulated international trade in the business. All Western exports have to have government approval. Less than stable democracies however can still get their killing equipment from other sources and it´s no trouble to pick up a bulk order at discount rates and import them.
You remind me of the Patricia Mc Kenna gaff on calling PDF purchases of APCs as "Toys For The Boys". You like her maybe would rather have our lads patroling in dangerous dusty areas in Nissan Patrols.

You are off topic.

I have no problems with weapons etc in the right hands ie stable governments

The Germans have not historically displayed the kind of responsible control of armys and weapons that would set my mind at ease.

[The questionable deployment of Irish troops in Chad is a side issue]

[absconded]

You are off topic.

I have no problems with weapons etc in the right hands ie stable governments

The Germans have not historically displayed the kind of responsible control of armys and weapons that would set my mind at ease.

[The questionable deployment of Irish troops in Chad is a side issue]

I´ll give you a for instance. Gadaffi is currently negotiating with Russia for $2Billion of arms imports. Do you think Russian equipment is of such superior quality? No, it´s because of a no questions asked policy by Putin.
The weapon of choice of every bandit in the world is the AK, trust me it´s an agricultural implement and nowhere near the precision made ergonomically designed European equivalent. guess what, it wasn´t produced by the Germans. But it was produced post 1945.
So your theory is flawed.