As Estonians and Latvians invincible armies bragged
Estonians started. That's what they wrote in the newspaper. "Postimees" 6 November:
How did the Latvians blunder? Here are the Estonians - well done. Judge for yourself. Their country is the smallest in the Baltic area. And in terms of population, too. But it can protect itself: after all, the Estonians themselves consider it a country “with independent defense capability”.
Estonians were worried that in the event of an attack they themselves would have to defend their southern border - the Latvian army, that is, the “empty space”, would not help them.
(Another question is, who from the south can, through Latvia, bypass routes invade independent Estonia, such as Minsk residents and Pskov citizens).
But in proof of the fact that the Estonian army is invincible, the above-mentioned newspaper quotes the words of Karlis Neretnieks, a retired general of the Swedish army, who, incidentally, has Latvian roots, so you will not accuse him of bias.
He took and investigated the defense capacity of the Baltic countries - and came to the conclusion that Estonia is a cut above the rest. Moreover, in a few years the gap will become even larger. Brilliant.
In another article, written by Mikka Salu, the army of two neighboring republics are compared in numbers.
If in Estonia today 5000-6000 military personnel are in service, and in wartime 30-40 thousand can stand up, in Latvia 1,7 thousand and 12 thousand respectively. The Estonian defense budget of 2009-2010 is EUR 565 million euros, and Latvians have only 370 million euros. And if valiant Estonians, in case of anything, start to fight with machine guns, machine guns, mortars, artillery, air defense, anti-tank armament and sit on armored personnel carriers (maybe even go), then the Latvian soldiers will be able to walk, run or crawl with machine guns and machine guns. Some lucky men will get rare mortars.
From such comparisons, dissatisfaction with the idleness of Latvians in Estonia is growing. Hence the seemingly absurd statements: "Latvia is a threat to the security of Estonia." So say the retired military Ants Laaneots and Leo Kunnas. Or, say, such an authority as the head of the United educational institutions of the Defense Forces, Colonel Aarne Hermus. A couple of years ago he gave a comparison in the Diplomaatia newspaper of the armed forces of Latvia and Lithuania. Readers were able to enjoy the author’s artistic style: in the event of war, the Latvian army, he wrote, would be able to guard sacks of flour in the rear.
The misfortune of Latvia is that Mikk Salu admits that there is no military service in the army in Latvia - there are only professional soldiers, but in Estonia there are conscripts, reservists, and professional military personnel. In short, in Estonia there is everything. The author does not forget to add:
And what can the Latvian machine gunners?
General Ants Laaneots also makes fun of Latvians. In his opinion, probably in order to save, the Letts acquired for their warriors “universal uniform”, from which there is no good:
Salou knows what the problem of Latvians is in money. They have no money. Estonia spends 40-50% more on defense than Latvia. But this is only official. In fact, the Latvians also spend their military budget in a very original way. For example, a company car for the president easily fits in with defense expenditures. There can also enter the construction of athletic fields. Why? Do not the soldiers need to pump up muscles?
And from such expenses, the generals in NATO, we note, begin to think: yes, the Latvians are spending on defense, this is good. And look - on a sports ground something at all not military. And if you look closely - even non-citizens come across. It is better to write together: non-citizens.
So much so that the Latvians included in the defense expenditures of the Bank of Latvia’s security team, as well as spending on organizing singing holidays, in defense expenditures emboldened by their own postmodernism.
Points are being rubbed into the NATO members by a promise to increase the country's defense budget to 2%. We will probably add from ourselves that they will start keeping orphanages with this money and build cinemas. This is a very peaceful country, Latvia.
And then a Latvian military airfield disappeared somewhere. He had plans, but in reality he was not.
Then it's time to say your weighty word to the Minister of Defense of Latvia. He said.
Sleep well, Estonian brothers - roughly in these words Artis Pabriks expressed confidence that the southern border of the Estonian state is safe. As for the different articles in Postimees there, it is tendentious and heats up the atmosphere. And there is no analysis. And in general, if necessary, the Latvian Ministry of Defense will offer Postimees several articles about its army.
Following the Minister of Defense to the Estonian brothers requested Latvian President Andris Berzins and Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis. The President stressed that Latvia had proved its defense capability by participating in the NATO mission in Afghanistan, and said that "in this industry, we are fine."
And Dombrovskis criticized the ability of Estonians to write analytical articles:
In Latvia, you can just find them.
November 23 appeared in "Postimees" long article Raimonds Rublovskis, Researcher at the Latvian Institute of International Relations. He believes that Estonia has no reason to regard Latvia as a threat to its security, because both republics are members of NATO. Latvia only needs to increase its defense spending.
And since Latvia has planned to increase them - gradually, slowly, by the year 2020, we add from ourselves, there seems to be no problem.
Approximately thinks so Latvian expert. Why do some Estonian politicians, experts and state security officials consider Latvia to be the weak link of the Baltic security and defense region of NATO? - he asks a question.
It turns out that his native country lacks not only money, but also political will.
That is the big question whether the plan will be fulfilled: there is a crisis in the country. Even one percent of GDP Latvia pulls out with difficulty.
And then there's the personnel question. Where to find good warriors, if they don’t have enough money? All true professionals resigned back in 2008 year.
In addition, judging by Rublovskis’s article, living in Latvia is not easy:
International military operations are also a problem for Latvia. Since there is no money, there are not enough people - what kind of operations are there?
The expert offers the Latvian armed forces to find a suitable way to participate in international operations. For some reason, he points to the period after 2014 of the year when NATO completes its mission in Afghanistan. Probably because he cites this date, that after the 2014 blowjob a year, the Latvians could do, say, the heroic processing of information in the cabinets.
As for the small number of Latvian troops, it does not matter, the analyst believes. Now, after all, they are fighting not with numbers, but with skill.
That's right. But only these most motivated people are not in the Latvian army, as Rublovskis himself said earlier. There were, yes gone to 2008. Only the demotivated remained - in small numbers and without skill.
Here, it seems, the expert himself has driven himself into a dead end.
He had to continue to talk about what kind of army in Finland and how it influenced the army of Estonia, and that Estonia itself, by the way, no matter how it boasted by its army, still needs “collective security and defense offered by NATO and strategic partnership with the United States. "
After talking about the concept of "smart defense" and hinting at "strength historical and geographical reasons ”, Rublovskis called on Estonia to pursue“ close cooperation ”, and therefore“ to stop the ongoing debates in the country ”.
Well, let's cooperate, or else Comrade Lukashenko won himself the other day as a dictator recognized...
“The defense forces of Estonia and Latvia, which started from one line twenty years ago, are now in a diametrically opposite position. Latvian Defense Forces are not ready to fight at all. They can neither defend their country nor cooperate internationally. Estonia’s southern border is defenseless. ”
Latvian soldiers who took part in the Spring Storm exercises in Estonia do not have uniforms suitable for field conditions, and it is very easy for the enemy to pick them up. (photo: Mihkel Maripuu, http://rus.postimees.ee/)
How did the Latvians blunder? Here are the Estonians - well done. Judge for yourself. Their country is the smallest in the Baltic area. And in terms of population, too. But it can protect itself: after all, the Estonians themselves consider it a country “with independent defense capability”.
“You shouldn’t go into euphoria, but basically it means that the Estonian army is able to fight and protect the state. With some amendments, the same can be said about Lithuania, but certainly not about Latvia. “In terms of security, Latvia is an empty place,” said Kaarel Kaas, an expert at the International Center for Defense Studies.
Estonians were worried that in the event of an attack they themselves would have to defend their southern border - the Latvian army, that is, the “empty space”, would not help them.
(Another question is, who from the south can, through Latvia, bypass routes invade independent Estonia, such as Minsk residents and Pskov citizens).
But in proof of the fact that the Estonian army is invincible, the above-mentioned newspaper quotes the words of Karlis Neretnieks, a retired general of the Swedish army, who, incidentally, has Latvian roots, so you will not accuse him of bias.
He took and investigated the defense capacity of the Baltic countries - and came to the conclusion that Estonia is a cut above the rest. Moreover, in a few years the gap will become even larger. Brilliant.
In another article, written by Mikka Salu, the army of two neighboring republics are compared in numbers.
If in Estonia today 5000-6000 military personnel are in service, and in wartime 30-40 thousand can stand up, in Latvia 1,7 thousand and 12 thousand respectively. The Estonian defense budget of 2009-2010 is EUR 565 million euros, and Latvians have only 370 million euros. And if valiant Estonians, in case of anything, start to fight with machine guns, machine guns, mortars, artillery, air defense, anti-tank armament and sit on armored personnel carriers (maybe even go), then the Latvian soldiers will be able to walk, run or crawl with machine guns and machine guns. Some lucky men will get rare mortars.
From such comparisons, dissatisfaction with the idleness of Latvians in Estonia is growing. Hence the seemingly absurd statements: "Latvia is a threat to the security of Estonia." So say the retired military Ants Laaneots and Leo Kunnas. Or, say, such an authority as the head of the United educational institutions of the Defense Forces, Colonel Aarne Hermus. A couple of years ago he gave a comparison in the Diplomaatia newspaper of the armed forces of Latvia and Lithuania. Readers were able to enjoy the author’s artistic style: in the event of war, the Latvian army, he wrote, would be able to guard sacks of flour in the rear.
The misfortune of Latvia is that Mikk Salu admits that there is no military service in the army in Latvia - there are only professional soldiers, but in Estonia there are conscripts, reservists, and professional military personnel. In short, in Estonia there is everything. The author does not forget to add:
"At the same time, Estonia is superior to Latvia in all respects, both quantitatively and qualitatively, we have more soldiers and they are better trained, we also have more equipment and it is more qualitative."
And what can the Latvian machine gunners?
“The Latvian armed forces are, in fact, lightly armed infantry, which means the presence of assault rifles, machine guns and mortars. In Latvia, there are almost no armored personnel carriers, anti-tank equipment, artillery and air defense ... Our warring soldiers move on armored personnel carriers, and the Latvians run on their own two. "
General Ants Laaneots also makes fun of Latvians. In his opinion, probably in order to save, the Letts acquired for their warriors “universal uniform”, from which there is no good:
“Everyone who visited the Estonian Defense Forces' Spring Storm” exercise, where Latvian units take part every year, could see with their own eyes that Latvians in their funny beige-spotted outfit from afar are conspicuous and soldiers of the Estonian Army can beat them Latvian professionals are like chickens. ”
Salou knows what the problem of Latvians is in money. They have no money. Estonia spends 40-50% more on defense than Latvia. But this is only official. In fact, the Latvians also spend their military budget in a very original way. For example, a company car for the president easily fits in with defense expenditures. There can also enter the construction of athletic fields. Why? Do not the soldiers need to pump up muscles?
And from such expenses, the generals in NATO, we note, begin to think: yes, the Latvians are spending on defense, this is good. And look - on a sports ground something at all not military. And if you look closely - even non-citizens come across. It is better to write together: non-citizens.
So much so that the Latvians included in the defense expenditures of the Bank of Latvia’s security team, as well as spending on organizing singing holidays, in defense expenditures emboldened by their own postmodernism.
Points are being rubbed into the NATO members by a promise to increase the country's defense budget to 2%. We will probably add from ourselves that they will start keeping orphanages with this money and build cinemas. This is a very peaceful country, Latvia.
And then a Latvian military airfield disappeared somewhere. He had plans, but in reality he was not.
“Recently, Estonia declared that it would like to see NATO planes in the future at our air base in Ämari - they could be deployed in turn in Lithuania and Estonia. For some reason, this plan was opposed by the Minister of Defense of Latvia Artis Pabriks - in his opinion, NATO aircraft could continue to remain only in Lithuania.
Perhaps this is just a rumor, but at least two sources claim that the reason for the opposition from the Latvians is the fear that Latvian voters will be interested in: why NATO planes do not appear in our area, what we did wrong.
“In fact, NATO has allocated funds for Latvia so that they can also equip their own airfield,” said one Estonian official. “Why they did not do this is unknown.”
Perhaps this is just a rumor, but at least two sources claim that the reason for the opposition from the Latvians is the fear that Latvian voters will be interested in: why NATO planes do not appear in our area, what we did wrong.
“In fact, NATO has allocated funds for Latvia so that they can also equip their own airfield,” said one Estonian official. “Why they did not do this is unknown.”
Then it's time to say your weighty word to the Minister of Defense of Latvia. He said.
Sleep well, Estonian brothers - roughly in these words Artis Pabriks expressed confidence that the southern border of the Estonian state is safe. As for the different articles in Postimees there, it is tendentious and heats up the atmosphere. And there is no analysis. And in general, if necessary, the Latvian Ministry of Defense will offer Postimees several articles about its army.
Following the Minister of Defense to the Estonian brothers requested Latvian President Andris Berzins and Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis. The President stressed that Latvia had proved its defense capability by participating in the NATO mission in Afghanistan, and said that "in this industry, we are fine."
And Dombrovskis criticized the ability of Estonians to write analytical articles:
“If a specific newspaper found one expert with such an opinion, this is the choice of a specific newspaper. I am sure that you can find other experts with a more informed opinion. ”
In Latvia, you can just find them.
November 23 appeared in "Postimees" long article Raimonds Rublovskis, Researcher at the Latvian Institute of International Relations. He believes that Estonia has no reason to regard Latvia as a threat to its security, because both republics are members of NATO. Latvia only needs to increase its defense spending.
And since Latvia has planned to increase them - gradually, slowly, by the year 2020, we add from ourselves, there seems to be no problem.
Approximately thinks so Latvian expert. Why do some Estonian politicians, experts and state security officials consider Latvia to be the weak link of the Baltic security and defense region of NATO? - he asks a question.
It turns out that his native country lacks not only money, but also political will.
"It can be said that the lack of political will to achieve the goal - two percent of GDP for defense spending - is the most serious problem that affects both the internal situation of Latvia, and especially the further development of the Latvian armed forces, as well as external relations with the US , our neighbors and the entire North Atlantic alliance. "
That is the big question whether the plan will be fulfilled: there is a crisis in the country. Even one percent of GDP Latvia pulls out with difficulty.
And then there's the personnel question. Where to find good warriors, if they don’t have enough money? All true professionals resigned back in 2008 year.
In addition, judging by Rublovskis’s article, living in Latvia is not easy:
"And if we take into account the current problems of Latvia with the population, including emigration, which is still at a high level, it is difficult to believe that the armed forces are able to keep in the service a sufficient number of educated and motivated people."
International military operations are also a problem for Latvia. Since there is no money, there are not enough people - what kind of operations are there?
The expert offers the Latvian armed forces to find a suitable way to participate in international operations. For some reason, he points to the period after 2014 of the year when NATO completes its mission in Afghanistan. Probably because he cites this date, that after the 2014 blowjob a year, the Latvians could do, say, the heroic processing of information in the cabinets.
As for the small number of Latvian troops, it does not matter, the analyst believes. Now, after all, they are fighting not with numbers, but with skill.
"In the 21st century, there is no need for a large number of military personnel, since in ensuring security, technical equipment is becoming increasingly important, which requires well-educated and motivated people, which the draft system simply cannot offer."
That's right. But only these most motivated people are not in the Latvian army, as Rublovskis himself said earlier. There were, yes gone to 2008. Only the demotivated remained - in small numbers and without skill.
Here, it seems, the expert himself has driven himself into a dead end.
He had to continue to talk about what kind of army in Finland and how it influenced the army of Estonia, and that Estonia itself, by the way, no matter how it boasted by its army, still needs “collective security and defense offered by NATO and strategic partnership with the United States. "
After talking about the concept of "smart defense" and hinting at "strength historical and geographical reasons ”, Rublovskis called on Estonia to pursue“ close cooperation ”, and therefore“ to stop the ongoing debates in the country ”.
Well, let's cooperate, or else Comrade Lukashenko won himself the other day as a dictator recognized...
Observed and commented on Oleg Chuvakin
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