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German jets scrambled after Russian military plane flies over Baltic Sea (www.theguardian.com)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/world@lemmy.world
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Russian Il-20M reconnaissance plane ignored requests to make contact, in latest of what are seen as provocative acts by Kremlin

Two German Eurofighter jets were scrambled on Sunday to intercept a Russian military aircraft above the Baltic Sea, as Estonia said it would call an emergency meeting of the UN security council after Russian planes violated its airspace.

Germany’s air force said the Russian Il-20M reconnaissance plane had switched off its transponders and ignored requests to make contact. The Eurofighters took off from the Rostock-Laage airbase to head off the aircraft as it flew in international airspace.

Tensions between Nato and Russia have been dramatically rising after a series of what European governments say are deliberate, provocative acts by the Kremlin. On Friday, three Russian MiG-31 fighters violated Estonian airspace in the Gulf of Finland. Moscow denies this.

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[–] 7 points 1 year ago (6 children)

so they are already preparing to move further.

They are barely managing the war with ukraine and you want me to believe they are moving further than that? EU countries combined are matching already russia military expenses, they are looking for excuses to boost war industry even more. Check the data and watch out for propaganda.

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  • [–] 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    EU countries combined are matching already russia military expenses

    Check the data

    The US plus all partners has sent about $150 billion in total, it looks like, up until the middle of last year: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1303432/total-bilateral-aid-to-ukraine/ About half of that is EU, so say $75 billion from the EU.

    Russia spends about $500 billion per year: https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2025/02/12/russias-2024-military-spending-surpassed-eu-uk-combined-in-ppp-terms-study-a87974 They have mobilized basically their entire economy to try to win this thing.

    What is your source for saying the EU alone is matching Russia? The EU is barely paying attention to the war, because of complacency and a subtle racism. But the idea that the EU is pulling out all the stops like Russia is, or prioritizing making their "defense" contractors rich in this as the US is wont to do, is absurd.

    and watch out for propaganda.

    Can do! I think I might have found some, I'm not sure.

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  • [+] 5 points 1 year ago (1 child)
    [deleted]
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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago

    Yeah. I'm not exactly a geopolitics-man, but my best guess for what's going on with Putin and Russia's strategy here is:

    1. He'd been doing fine with taking over small countries up until 2022, and it generally gave him opportunities for new goodies to give away to his friends and also it's exciting and makes him look like a winner
    2. He's been surrounded by yes men for so long that he's lost his ability to really tell what are good strategies, what is happening, or what's likely to happen in the future

    I think the combination means that he's just kind of telling his military to do whatever, including invading Ukraine thinking it would go about the same way as Georgia, Crimea, Chechnya, and the US elections. I do think he benefits from a certain amount of native cunning in this particular brinksmanship with NATO, and of course it doesn't take too much detailed understanding of facts on the ground to just fly some planes around in their airspace and flip people off, but also I think in general this latest chapter of Russia is just a pretty good demonstration of why authoritarianism doesn't make for effective countries.

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  • [+] 0 points 1 year ago (2 children)
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  • [–] -1 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    A billion in EU buys many times less than the same billion does in russia.

    Think about why it does

    Furthermore, russia has never - at least in the last two-three lifetimes - acted logically

    Governments and rulers do not follow me and you logic, they act for themself and according to their interests

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago

    A billion in EU buys many times less than the same billion does in russia.

    Think about why it does

    Because no one in their right mind wants rubles, so money comparisons that involve rubles have to be corrected back to reality before the values actually match. If you go by the exchange rate alone, you might as well be comparing dollars to lollipops or something.

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