Military spending in 2008
Monday, 26. May 2008, 14:54:25
Military spending in 2008
From:
http://www.globalissues.org/Geopolitics/ArmsTrade/Spending.asp
Country Billions World % Rank --------------------------------------- United States 711 48.28% 1 China 121.9 8.28% 2 Russia 70 4.75% 3 United Kingdom 55.4 3.76% 4 France 54 3.67% 5 Japan 41.1 2.79% 6 Germany 37.8 2.57% 7 Italy 30.6 2.08% 8 Saudi Arabia 29.5 2.00% 9 South Korea 24.6 1.67% 10 and, interestingly: Israel 11 0.75% 17It seems Italy spends about 3 times in military than Israel. Weird.
From:
http://www.globalissues.org/Geopolitics/ArmsTrade/Spending.asp
By MizzMartinez, # 26. May 2008, 16:52:14
- ØØ -
By NoteMe, # 27. May 2008, 08:13:54
I spent my military service (being stupid I made it) back in '92-93 in the mountain infantry called "alpini" (from the "alps"). Originally they were mostly recruited in mountain areas. They saw major battles in WWI when a big part of the front was on the mountains along the frontier with Austria and during WWII in the russian campaign, when after the russian counter-offensive they had to retreat the whole way by feet during winter and most of the expedition corp was annihilated.
I guess the NATO exercises in Norway involve the alpini corp since they are the ones best equipped and trained for snow and extreme cold conditions.
You recognize them because of the cap that resembles the one from Robin Hood with a black crow "feather" on it. They also wear a "fatigue" cap that is called "norvegese" (norwegian) and I guess it was copied from something of yours.
About guns, I don't know the big calibers but the rifles had been changed starting from the '90s from vintage WWII "refitted" cal. 7.62 (which I had) to more modern cal. 5.56 AR70/90 made by the italian firm Beretta. I am not an expert but it should be a decent rifle.
On a side note: italian soldiers traditionally aren't that aggressive unless it comes to defend their own homes. They are more interested in dating the local girls and settle down.
By LorenzoCelsi, # 27. May 2008, 09:08:05
Pretty far from what we usually used. I found this picture of me witch is one of the few images I have from back then:
It is funny you should say that. My cousin told me when he got back from Iraq that he felt that the Scandinavian soldiers went down there to do a job. The French army went down to taste wine and food, and the British troops went down there to kick some ass. A bit stereotypic, but I would believe it any day really
- ØØ -
By NoteMe, # 27. May 2008, 11:48:06
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpini
It is not me then.
I don't have any "rambo" picture from my service.
In the above pic you seem to have an american M-4 carabine or a very similar thing. Again I am not an expert but I've read it lacks effectiveness at long distances due to the short barrel and it is prone to jammings due to the direct gas action, so you have to keep it always clean.
About the stereotypes...
Well of course they aren't 100% true but at the end there are some national traits.
About Italians it is complicated by the local differences among Italians themselves we have discussed elsewhere. But in general I am sure Italians like much more to build things and make friends than to destroy everything and "kick asses".
The Alpini corp was created for defending northern borders of Italy, leveraging on the knowledge of the difficult enviroiment by the locals. They were intended to combat having their own mountains and villages at their back and stop an advancing enemy at all costs, more or less Thermopylae-style.
Probably if you look at the italian paratroopers they are way more aggressive since they are intended to be thrown behind enemy lines, fight against the odds and do the maximum damage.
So I guess while the Alpini are more used to building and re-building things, and for sure they like any village that looks like home, others have a different approach.
By LorenzoCelsi, # 27. May 2008, 12:31:57
It is very true. It is not a standard Norwegian weapon. It is only used for special operations like entering buildings or escorting people.
We used AG3 for combat when I was in the army. I think they have switched or is about to switch to something else these days.
I can't remember seeing anyone with hats like that before. But it might have been those anyway. All countries sent those troops that they would send if they sent people for a NATO assignment. So if you send those guys over seas if required, then those where the guys.
If this still yields today, then maybe that was not the guys you sent to Norway after all. We have platoons like this as well, but that is not the same guys we send to Afghanistan, Iraq, Kosovo and the like.
- ØØ -
By NoteMe, # 8. June 2008, 19:18:45