The EU and the military for everyone. The deserted barracks and the Donbass
There war in Ukrainewhich has been going on for a year now, highlighted a problemthe barracks in all Europe I am now empty. In the NATO countries there lever was abolished for years, with the exception of Greece, Lithuania and Denmark. In front of a mass offensive – we read in the Republic – Europe would only have “a thin red line” available, like that of the Scots grenadiers who sacrificed themselves at Balaclava to stop the Russian charge. So back to talking about mandatory service even in Germanywhere the pacifist tradition she is very strong. Technology and quality are not enough: there are total conflicts matter of numbers. And the reappearance of war in Europe is animating debates that seemed erased from history and relegated to the memory book: after the rediscovery of tanks and cannons, here is the discussion of compulsory military service. There najanightmare for generations of twenty-year-olds sent with rifle in hand to watch over the “threshold of Gorizia”, returns hero in the warlike climate caused since the invasion of Ukraine.
Elsewhere, however – continues Repubblica – attention is more focused on lessons that arrive from Ukraine. After fifteen years, in January the Latvia has reintroduced conscription and Denmark wants to extend it as well at women. The Dutch, struggling to find recruits, are speculating about adopting the Swedish model: draw every year 4-5 thousand eighteen year olds for an eleven month stop. But the Polandwho also launched the most colossal rearmament program on the continent, believes that conscripts in modern wars are more or less useless: “Only Russians use citizens like cannon fodder“, argued a Polish general.
#rethinking #conscription #hypothesis #returning #naja