Tero

To be fair, Thomm looks to be from Austria and there are still some residual, built in as it were, reservations towards honouring the veterans with military displays. I wish I had the full story about the (West ?) German youth group visiting a Finland (might have been a boy scout/girl guide meeting) who broke down in hysterical tears when they attended a late night camp fire get together where they sang songs and took the flag down standing in a formation of sorts in semi-official fashion from the pole at sun down.

Imagine how fast it could be done by a half-platoon in field conditions.... with a field stove inside all fired up and coffee brewing....

Yep. The barrel sleeve looks more like MP-28 than Bergman.

Bergman by the looks of it. http://world.guns.ru/smg/smg79-e.htm

From the wonderful world of Youtube some selected tidbits about Finnish women by English speaking men

God forbid the consumers in their native markets should benefit from the "over" production as reduced prices...... Over here in Finland the private milk monopoly Valio announced the other day they'll be cutting the producer price of the milk by 5 cents while the decrease will not show in the consumer price. The VAT reduction in food prices is up later this year.

Been watching Sicko, have we ? The movie made me think of all the things we take for granted in the "more civilized" West.

This one's for the conspiracy buffs. First there is a global demand for ISP's to retain logs for a prolonged period of time, then this. A definitive trend is emerging and it is global. Over here in Finland there is now a debate over what is called Lex Nokia. If passed this law will grant companies without any legal proceedings leave to investigate email ID information. The law is worded so that it would grant ANY organization this leave, be it a bussiness, university, public library or a housing co-operative.

The same effect was seen in the UK a few summers back when the torrential rains swept the really beautiful villages built into nice looking gullies which funnel the rainwater into the sea. As it happened the "excess" rain swept people, cars and houses as well.

An added bonus is they would not have insurgents and guerillas trained in their equipment and doctrine in the more volatile border regions.

By JonS That depends what kind of habitat they require. The rural areas are, apart from human habitation, able to sustain bears if they were to treck North. The bears of Iberia are a bit superfluous anyway since their total number does not exceed 300 specimens. http://www.iberianature.com/material/spain_wildlife/bear_extinction_spain.htm

By JonS Apart from the human population there is no real reason for the bears not to be able to migrate towards North.

How well will these lines in the paper maps stop billions of Chinese from crossing the Siberian expanses ? Then again I wonder how a post nuclear war nuclear winter would affect the global warming....

By Dietrich Thought as much. Nevertheless, why should the nazi emblems get special attention when there are pirates and other historical but more distant reminders and examples of human attrocities. Just referring to the current drive here in the whole of Europe to ban the public displaying of the swastika just because the Germans have outlawed it in their domestic use. IMO that kind of banning does not deter the use of the emblems since by displaying them is anti-establisment. Trivialize the use and soon the fascination fades in both the emblems and the ideas they are supposed to represent. Reverse psychology ? Then again if you name your son Martin Luther does not harm your child would naming him Sirhan or Lee Harvey harm him ? BTW: what's the latest on the issue ? The authoroties still not disclosing why exactly the children were taken into custody ?

By Dietrich By definition a proper Oktoberfest celebration is neither low-key nor family friendly. I trust you, as a matter of course, take offense in tattoos like the skull and crossbones, devil and other assorted emblems with less than savourly connotations. This fixation on emblems is really eating up the justified indignation towards the nazi attrocities. By coming down on them like a ton of bricks ensures the enduring facination in them and by proxy the criminal organization associated with them.

By gunnergoz Would you consider plate C1B20R11BR23D (similarly based on a unit designation) obviously obscene ?

By JonS Man still has feet, doesn't he ? If/when the excrement hits the ventilation in, say, India or China what force will stop the migation from those areas to areas not affected by said excrement shower ? I'm not saying the migration would be a overnight affair. It would rather be a decade(s) or century(ies) long affair. I think the advances in media and communication technology has clouded our perspective from centuries and decades to days and indeed minutes. I doubt that. If we can wreck havoc in places like Australia by introducing flora and founa not indiginous to the area there is no reason to think nature can not take care of its own in that respect when the climate change goes over the threshold for the prevailing flora and fauna. After all, the nature works in cycles which span centuries and eons, not weeks and months. IMO it is not a mere coincidence the already barren areas with oil reserves have affected (by proxy of the oil industry) the development of effective and cost efficient energy sources which would in turn help arid areas for example in their strugle to ward off the deserts. I think this whole scare is all about the haves fearing they will lose what they have because all their posessions will become worthless as it all is meaningless and superficial to the existence of the humans as a spieces.

What is more the Palestinians (Hamas) forfeited their moral high ground by stashing weapons in places of worship and deliberately firing against Israeli troops from places where they knowingly risk (ie.bank on) collateral damage.

Lets face the facts: the Palestinian fighters are using their civilians as, well, human shields is not a proper term since the civilians lives are not the fighters main concerns so much as the bad press they are bringing on the Israelis. And when it comes to civilian casualties the international press is really turning a blind eye when it comes to Israeli civilian casualties when suicide bombers hit busses etc.

A good sport and a decent trooper ?

Mate, actually.

Submunitions round ?

Recently. here in Finland a divorced father of 6 lost the custody of his children to the wellfare people after his ex-wife who had been taking care of them was hospitalized. They deemed "a single person" can not take care so many children on his own (despite the ex had been taking care of them prior to being hospitalized).

Unless of course the reasons for taking the kids would not stand up if challenged in court (ie. the reason is the name of the child and not proven physical abuse, neglect or recless endagerment by the parents).

Dropping anything on point targets within the city limits was forbidden AFAIK. Airfields were bombed on occasion though.