Politics

[Big_Easy]

Midterms outcome dont bother you..?

Unfortunately since most of the house is gerrymandered, there won't be large swings in representation anymore. And there are only 2-3 senate republicans that stand a chance of loosing this time around. They'll most likely loose the house, but probably still hold the senate. On the plus side, that means no more tax cuts for the rich.

 

[LivingTheDream]

Canada has very professional soldiers who are forced to operate on a shoestring budget with antiquated technology at best, third world countries have newer and more tanks planes ect than we can field.

To answer your question it is my belief that if called on Canadians soldiers would do the very best that they could with the limited means they have available to them.

I believe all of this to be true.

My thought process was Canadian leadership saying, or European leadership asking Canada to fill the void if the United States left NATO did not seem realistic, or marginally fair to those soldiers who are currently operating on a shoestring budget.

 

[mdwest]

The entire Canadian airforce is 390 air platforms with approximately 40% being considered airworthy.

We have 33 navel vessels total and no supply ships currently in service.

We also can’t meet recruitment goals for our armed forces or reserves with 4-5 thousand vacancies in each.

Canada has very professional soldiers who are forced to operate on a shoestring budget with antiquated technology at best, third world countries have newer and more tanks planes ect than we can field.

To answer your question it is my belief that if called on Canadians soldiers would do the very best that they could with the limited means they have available to them.

I’ll stand by all of that.

I’ve only had limited interaction with Canadian army personnel… but to a man, every single Canadian soldier I worked with was a pro, and very good at his job, despite being under equipped and only receiving limited training…

All of the PPLI and the JTF2 guys I’ve been around were very proud, hard working, and dedicated soldiers ..

 

[mdwest]

I’ll stand by all of that.

I’ve only had limited interaction with Canadian army personnel… but to a man, every single Canadian soldier I worked with was a pro, and very good at his job, despite being under equipped and only receiving limited training…

All of the PPLI and the JTF2 guys I’ve been around were very proud, hard working, and dedicated soldiers ..

I should add that this is true of most European armies I’ve worked with/around..

I’ve spent time with Brits, French,Germans, Austrians, Poles, Czechs, Romanians, Hungarians, Danes, Fins, and Bosnians…

All of them were anywhere from decent to very good soldiers… despite their governments failing them, not providing them decent equipment, not providing them ample training, etc…

There are a few European countries that I wasn’t at all impressed with… the Turkish officers (SOF no less) sucked… they wouldn’t have lasted 30 minutes in a US conventional infantry unit, much less a SOF unit… and I didn’t find the Greeks much better…

But most European armies have a lot of really good men serving in them… they just have crap gear and sometimes crap training, and often crap facilities…

 

[Pondoro]

I should add that this is true of most European armies I’ve worked with/around..

I’ve spent time with Brits, French,Germans, Austrians, Poles, Czechs, Romanians, Danes, Fins, and Bosnians…

All of them were anywhere from decent to very good soldiers… despite their governments failing them, not providing them decent equipment, not providing them ample training, etc…

There are a few European countries that I wasn’t at all impressed with… the Turkish officers (SOF no less) sucked… they wouldn’t have lasted 30 minutes in a US conventional infantry unit, much less a SOF unit… and I didn’t find the Greeks much better…

But most European armies have a lot of really good men serving in them… they just have crap gear and sometimes crap training, and often crap facilities…

With regard to equipment..until about 1990 our mobilization army had WW2 GMC trucks and Dodge WC´s..

It looked like Normandie 1944..or Kellys Heroes if you like..

 

[mdwest]

With regard to equipment..until about 1990 our mobilization army had WW2 GMC trucks and Dodge WC´s..

It looked like Normandie 1944..or Kellys Heroes if you like..

In 1988 the first vehicle I was allowed to drive in the army was a Willy’s jeep that I’m pretty sure entered service right at the end of WW2…

It was slow and loud.. and you froze in the winter and sweated like a whore in church in the summer…

But I loved that jeep lol..

I’d love to have one just like it to use as a camp truck for hunting…

 

[Pondoro]

The Jeep was fun to drive..we had them as well and they had gearbox with syncromesh..and easy to maneuver in forests..

The GMC´s and Dodge´s..well you had to master double de-clutching..

 

[mdwest]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2042235411049623746

Interesting times we live in when a Lebanese MP and other Lebanese officials are commending Israel for bombing Hezbollah…

It would appear even the countries that have hosted Iranian proxies like Qatar (Hamas) and Lebanon (Hezbollah) have had enough of Iranian and Palestinian bullshit..

 

[mdwest]

The Jeep was fun to drive..we had them as well and they had gearbox with syncromesh..and easy to maneuver in forests..

The GMC´s and Dodge´s..well you had to master double de-clutching..

Most of our vehicles had upgraded by the time I entered service … but we still had a handful of really old ones in the fleet..

Most of my units 2.5 ton trucks were only about 10-15 years old (end of Vietnam era(… and we had CUC-Vs which were essentially Chevy Blasers from the early 80’s, and then a handful of the old late 40’s and early 50’s era jeeps..

Most everyone else in the army had already gotten 1st generation Hummvee… but we were still stuck with the jeeps and CUCV for a little while longer..

 

[Scott CWO]

You should be. Child abuse is terrible.

But one of the things we know about child sexual abuse, is that it is prevalent in all cultures, and even all denominations. It is not a particularly islamic problem.

For instance, in my home province of Ontario, there was a massive child abuse ring in Prescott Ontario, where it was all boring white bread people involved, totally WASP top to bottom.

Or this more recent operation: https://www.ctvnews.ca/northern-ont...ild-sexual-exploitation-ring-39-charges-laid/

All of accused in that last one (so far) are caucasian, and not likely muslim.

Canada isn’t much better than the UK. You are completely surrendering your country and have drank the Kool-Aid. Watched any international arrivals at your airports lately? On April 5th, I flew to Ottawa via Chicago starting in Denver and went through Canadian Customs and signed my rifle paperwork with an Officer. At the same time, a flight from Paris arrived full of immigrants with 4-5 suitcases or wrapped boxes, each. These people definitely were not tourists and sure as hell weren’t your doctor friends you bragged about! Not exactly all the best and brightest coming in! What a joke! Good luck with that!

I asked the Officer if he wanted me to unlock my rifle case so he could check it. There were dozens of the immigrants behind me in line. He said he didn’t need to bother me with the inconvenience with everything else he and the other officers were watching. He left me with more than an impression that I was the least of his worries. I mentioned that it looked like the Biden years in the USA but that was finally stopped. He said, “Yeah, It’s still business as usual here” with the invasion in Canada.

 

[Pondoro]

Must be getting old...my newest mil. rifle is an M14 of 1962 vintage..

 

[CoElkHunter]

Tyrant's like Putin would salivate over the thought of a U.S withdrawal from NATO.
Imperialistic ambitions.

Don’t forget China’s Xi. Taiwan and South China Sea ambitions.

 

[Scott CWO]

Enjoy your time worrying about how King Charles says nice things to muslims.

A good friend's cousin is now adding hunting operations to his business in South Luangwa, and I just got an invite to go there next year. If the schedule works I may well take him up on it.

Who are you trying to kid? No you won’t. I will believe it when I see it. I look forward to your hunt report.

 

[Tubby’s Canteen]

I believe all of this to be true.

My thought process was Canadian leadership saying, or European leadership asking Canada to fill the void if the United States left NATO did not seem realistic, or marginally fair to those soldiers who are currently operating on a shoestring budget.

Anyone who thinks the Canadian armed forces will step up and fill the gap America would create if America left nato is high on maple syrup and not talking sense. Canada only reached 2% of gdp spending for the first time in march of 2025 and isn’t projected to reach 5% until 2035 at the earliest. To think a nation of 41 million could replace the contribution of a nation of 350 million with the one of the largest military forces on earth is laughable.

 

[KJE81]

Ive been saying that all along... Trump is gone in 2.5 years... and no matter who replaces him, things will absolutely change...

JD Vance may be an even greater isolationist than Trump.. but he isnt nearly as "rude" typically and certainly doesnt negotiate the same way..

Rubio and DeSantis (the other two most probable R candidates) are significantly more reserved and less erratic..

And if we end up with Newsome, Weimer, or Harris in the white house, we'll be 20% further down the road toward leftism than Biden took us...

And congress will absolutely not support a withdrawl.. Ive been saying that as well.. it takes a 2/3 majority vote.. and there arent nearly enough hard line right wing votes to get close to that in the senate...

but.. Trump can certainly make NATO pay a hefty price for 2.5 years in the meantime if he wants to.. he doesnt have to pull out of the alliance to create pain for the European members.. there are plenty of ways he can do that with or without congress's approval..

Regarding the $200M in Norway... Im well aware... the difference is.. if the US pulls out (it wont).. how is Norway going to fund its maintenance? You could potentially end up with a free facility.. but a free facility is valueless if its not maintained... and maintaining a $200M air base is not cheap or easy (I know.. I have worked in the defense industry for decades)..

In a way a real isolationist would probably be much better then an interventionist like Trump turned out to be. I mean more predictable less of the current president lashing out at everything etc...

 

[KJE81]

I appreciate you answering but I don’t see how you can ignore the significance of this part I’ve quoted. Including our indirect spending, the US contributes 62% of NATO’s total spending on defense.

The risk that the US military will come down on an aggressor in response to article 5, is the deterrent. The American carriers, the air power, the ICBM’s and sub missiles are all part of the NATO deterrent. Even if you believe Trump only has a 50/50 chance of sending them, that’s a whole lot more persuasive than 0%.

I suggest that you will never be able to fill that gap. I heard interviews with Germans who didn’t want to ramp up munitions production to aid Ukraine or for their own defense because it could cut into social program spending. I seriously doubt that the bigger NATO nations would be willing to front the real cost of replacing the US military in the alliance and the only real winner would be Putin.

Regarding the detterent of the US in Nato I think its all about gone by now, from all those comments by Trump lately and especially the one about Nato being a paper tiger and Putin knows it...

I am also thinking that since Ukraine is able to fend of Russia by themselves and by now they retake more land then the russians conquers, perhaps we dont have to dimension our forces to respond to a superpower but rather a regional power with nukes, as long as we have some nuclear capabilities any war will most likely be fought with conventional forces and Russia seems to have a very hard time defeating Ukraine, let alone the rest of europe.

 

[KJE81]

Norway has the largest found deposit of REE minerals..in Europe

Om sjeldne jordarter - Fensfeltet

Sjeldne jordarter spiller allerede en viktig rolle i ditt og mitt liv, og vil få stor betydning for utviklingen framover.

fensfeltet.no

I thought that he Per Geijer deposit in Sweden was Europes largest REE deposit?

Heavy Rare Earth Element Deposits in Europe

Europe's heavy rare earth deposits in Sweden, Norway & Greenland could supply 30% of EU demand, reducing dependence on China for critical metals.

rareearthexchanges.com

 

[KJE81]

Anyone who thinks the Canadian armed forces will step up and fill the gap America would create if America left nato is high on maple syrup and not talking sense. Canada only reached 2% of gdp spending for the first time in march of 2025 and isn’t projected to reach 5% until 2035 at the earliest. To think a nation of 41 million could replace the contribution of a nation of 350 million with the one of the largest military forces on earth is laughable.

I think that Germany is currently aspiring to take over from the US in Nato if Trump were to decide to leave, at least their current build up is quite massive, if I understand it correctly they are undergoing their largest buildup since the cold war. From currently about 90 billion USD to 152 billion USD by 2029. Apparently this will put them at number 4 of global military spending.

Regardless I guess that building up simply for defending europe would not require the levels of military spending that the US does, since there would be no need for a global blue water navy, really no need for carrier strike groups or other forces ment for global force projection. I assume that europe would focus on defending europe not to be able to project power into other regions.

 

[Tubby’s Canteen]

I think that Germany is currently aspiring to take over from the US in Nato if Trump were to decide to leave, at least their current build up is quite massive, if I understand it correctly they are undergoing their largest buildup since the cold war. From currently about 90 billion USD to 152 billion USD by 2029. Apparently this will put them at number 4 of global military spending.
Regardless I guess that building up simply for defending europe would not require the levels of military spending that the US does, since there would be no need for a global blue water navy, really no need for carrier strike groups or other forces ment for global force projection. I assume that europe would focus on defending europe not to be able to project power into other regions.

In which case it would be a waste of both time and resources for Canada to remain in nato, we would be further ahead to attempt a North American defence treaty with the u.s. and Mexico.

 

[KJE81]

In which case it would be a waste of both time and resources for Canada to remain in nato, we would be further ahead to attempt a North American defence treaty with the u.s. and Mexico.

Yes it would probably not be possible for a Nato without the US to be able to mount a credible defense of Canada. That would require precisely the global blue water fleet capability that only the US are able to provide.