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The Upper-hand [1]

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Date: 2023-01-26  

Hello,

I'll introduce myself shortly because this is my first dairy, and then we can get in to the good stuff. My name is Okke Mostard, and I live in The Netherlands (please don't call it Holland). International politics have always intrigued me. As an 8-year old kid I was blown away by the images that came with the fall of the Berlin wall. I graduated for my Masters in Political Sciences almost two decades later, focusing on European politics. Some time after that I spend a few years dabbling in National/European politics for the Dutch green party Groenlinks. There are wildly varying "shades of green" in European politics, but the Dutch greens are essentially modeled after the German greens, you may now be somewhat familiar with. I have also lived in Belgium and Italy, and generally been around the place. In short: I am your man in Yurp! Seeing how this wonderful site is American based, I figured I might make my contribution by providing some context on "the old country". Lets kick-of with a bit of applied speculation on the Franco-German axle, and how that relates to tank supplies for Ukraine.

After weeks of sweating it out on the main stage, Germany did her little dance for now -polite applause-. But how about France? Of course the proud nation of France would not deploy German tanks! So they build their own. In a sense Germany and France are opposites, and perhaps that is why their relationship works. France makes the noise and Germany carries the weight. That is in a nutshell how that Franco-German axle of the EU makes its rounds. It might not be a perfect marriage, but they need each other for exactly that. Like properly intertwined spouses however, just below the surface they are also continuously in competition. So now France is on the spot.. With a grand gesture France has presented her Leclerc tanks, already before Germany gave the okay on the Leopards. Ideally France would now make the Leclerc available to back stock another country, that then may squeeze out a bunch of extra Leopards. Just to keep things simple and standardized. Maybe that would work for Finland for instance? But I doubt France would be willing to "play second fiddle" like that. On the other hand: they might not be able to measure up to Germany, in the specific field of supplying MBT's. They are about to make significant contributions in other armored vehicles, so perhaps France will work with that, plus a few tanks. Or will they safe face by being the first to offer fighter jets? I'd keep an eye out for France the upcoming week, because they have to move!

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/1/26/2149518/-The-Upper-hand

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