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[–] 76 points 9 months ago* (6 children)

By god those men are huge. Or Greenland is just that small and I got Mercatored?

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  • [–] 38 points 9 months ago* (3 children)

    You got Mercatored. The German soldiers are somewhat on the large side, but the Finnish soldiers are in fact very tiny.

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  • [–] 51 points 9 months ago (3 children)

    13 Germans: "Okay, whatever."

    2 Finns: "Turn this aircraft carrier around, we're going home."

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  • [–] 5 points 9 months ago*

    In William Gibson's Sprawl trilogy, only two people achieve some form of immortality. An Alabama redneck with a genetic mutation that made him capable of surviving several cyber tech induced brain deaths that was murdered by a sentient AI and transcoded to digital form against his will, and a perfectly normal Finn who did that to himself voluntarily.

    Considering practically everything else Gibson wrote is coming true, I am driven to agree with you.

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  • [–] 40 points 9 months ago

    Note that these soldiers are drawn to scale; each one is roughly the size of Massachusetts.

    The German ones have returned home, though; as can be seen, one accidentally deployed into the Labrador Sea and got wet feet. Fearing a potential cold, we brought the whole squad home and are currently administering 200,000 metric tons of chicken soup.

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  • [–] 31 points 9 months ago (6 children)

    You have to update the map, the Germans already returned home again.

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  • [–] 3 points 9 months ago (3 children)

    And they were 15 if you include the pilots.

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  • [–] 2 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (2 children)

    Pilots? News said they returned using a standard civilian flight connection.

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  • [–] 30 points 9 months ago

    To be fair, the one Brit is actually a GP's receptionist. Nobody's getting past them.

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  • [–] 27 points 9 months ago (18 children)

    There were a few french too

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  • [–] 18 points 9 months ago (13 children)

    Oh no They might plant their flag on Greenland 🏳️🏳️🏳️🏳️🏳️🏳️

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  • [+] 17 points 9 months ago (4 children)
  • [–] 4 points 9 months ago (3 children)

    I thought it was the royalty surrenders and then die. Blue > white > red?

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  • [+] 2 points 9 months ago (3 children)
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  • [–] 11 points 9 months ago (5 children)

    France: most successful military of all time, makes one colossal fuck up.

    Everyone: cheese eating surrender monkeys.

    Vive la France!

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  • [–] 4 points 9 months ago (4 children)

    Napoleon had a successful army but I mean after that?

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  • [–] 8 points 9 months ago (3 children)

    You can make your own opinion here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_history_of_France

    Short story: this joke is dumb and offensive.

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  • [–] 3 points 9 months ago (2 children)

    Yeah.. Post 19th century is just a string of defeats and atrocities.

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  • [–] 1 point 9 months ago (1 child)

    WW1 might be an atrocity but it was pretty famously not a defeat

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  • [–] 1 point 9 months ago

    Well isn't it considered in the same way as WW2? Saved by the Americans? There was peace on the eastern front in the end, freeing German resources which (maybe) would have made a difference at the western front but then fresh US troops poured in?

    I'm no WW1 expert however and since that never happened there's only speculation.

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  • [–] 19 points 9 months ago (3 children)

    Aren't they advance parties/recce for a bigger force?

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  • [–] 18 points 9 months ago

    We are talking about tripwire forces, so they are basically there so that the invaders have to shoot at Brits, French, Finns, ect. instead off just Greenlanders and Danes.
    Their mission is a political one, symbolizing the European support and if war comes to die on camera.

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  • [–] 18 points 9 months ago

    Advance parties makes it sound like they are doing some reconnaissance, mapping enemy positions and fortifications.

    They are planning for military exercises. Probably just checking where the toilets are are and how many barrels of sauerkraut can they fit in the pantry.

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  • [–] 18 points 9 months ago

    They actually sent an extra dutch guy. And they went home again. It was just a recon thing

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  • [–] 12 points 9 months ago

    Enough for the 150 Americans which are currently there.

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  • [–] 2 points 9 months ago
    [–] 0 points 9 months ago (5 children)

    The EU must be delusional if they think this would scare the US off. They can't keep thinking they can just get by like in their coalition days when America did all the heavy lifting if they sent some token force. This time Americans are the enemy and they do not fuck around when they want to seize territory.

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  • [–] 17 points 9 months ago

    This isn't a potential war against some unheard of country on the other side of the world with a communist regime. This is a potential war against friends over a territory a majority of Americans doesn't support invading.

    It doesn't matter how much shock and awe the US have when the population will lose their shit and topple the government. I bet the US could occupy Greenland within half a day but a couple of months later the new US administration will beg the EU to tell them exactly how much they need to grovel for this to be forgiven.

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  • [–] 5 points 9 months ago

    Initially deployed were a small number of troops, about thirty personnel.[10][11][12] However, the initial military planners, reconnaissance teams, were not intended to deter US action by themselves alone. They were to coordinate the arrival of larger land, sea, and air forces publicly pledged by France, and/or other European states: "As well as providing a show of political support, the European troops were said to be on a short scoping mission, according to one country involved. The aim was to establish what a more sustained ground deployment in Greenland could look like, partly to reassure the US that European NATO members were serious about Arctic security".[13] The troops also act as a tripwire force, such that an attack against them would be considered an act of aggression against the European partners and reacted to accordingly.[14]

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Arctic_Endurance

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  • [–] 2 points 9 months ago (1 child)
  • [–] 4 points 9 months ago

    The US is good at seizing territory but dog shit at holding it. It'll be a long protracted war that'll weaken the Western powers which is exactly what Russia and China want. I hope it never comes to war among NATO members but considering how awful and erratic Trump is this might actually happen.

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