In todays news...

[westers151]

Has she been appointed? Stoltenberg is in the job for another year+ I thought. Rutte was favourite but looks like he's quitting for quiet obscurity. Seems pretty obvious to go for someone from the EU bloc tbh.

The EU members of NATO have been a shambles for a very long time so it makes sense to put her in there to finish the job.

[westers151]

Has she been appointed? Stoltenberg is in the job for another year+ I thought. Rutte was favourite but looks like he's quitting for quiet obscurity. Seems pretty obvious to go for someone from the EU bloc tbh.

Why? The whole of the EU only contribute 20% of the NATO budget, and several EU countries especially Germany do not contribute as much as they have signed up to do.

'Why is NATO’s top diplomat always a European?

NATO‘s top general is always an American and the Alliance‘s top diplomatic post of Secretary General is always filled by a European. The first Secretary General was appointed in April 1952 and since then twelve different European diplomats have served officially in the position and two others on a temporary basis. The official and somewhat tautological answer to the question is that this arrangement is intended to balance the influence of the United States, which appoints the Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR), NATO's top general.'

Correct, it's a European member, not a member of the EU bloc. From a geological point of view, the UK is deemed part of Europe.

[Count Steer]

Why? The whole of the EU only contribute 20% of the NATO budget, and several EU countries especially Germany do not contribute as much as they have signed up to do.

'Why is NATO’s top diplomat always a European?

NATO‘s top general is always an American and the Alliance‘s top diplomatic post of Secretary General is always filled by a European. The first Secretary General was appointed in April 1952 and since then twelve different European diplomats have served officially in the position and two others on a temporary basis. The official and somewhat tautological answer to the question is that this arrangement is intended to balance the influence of the United States, which appoints the Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR), NATO's top general.'

Correct, it's a European member, not a member of the EU bloc. From a geological point of view, the UK is deemed part of Europe.

...and NATO is a political alliance not a geological one.

(Though frankly, why anyone that could do the job would want it at the salary on offer is beyond me).

[JackyJoll]

From a geological point of view, the UK is deemed part of Europe.

But have they got the minerals?

[Count Steer]

From a geological point of view, the UK is deemed part of Europe.

But have they got the minerals?

Dunno, but they've got a lot on their (tectonic) plates at the moment.

[JackyJoll]

From a geological point of view, the UK is deemed part of Europe.

But have they got the minerals?

Dunno, but they've got a lot on their (tectonic) plates at the moment.

We catch your drift.

[westers151]

...and NATO is a political alliance not a geological one.

(Though frankly, why anyone that could do the job would want it at the salary on offer is beyond me).

Correct, and it makes sense to give that role to a member from that political union, and not a political union such as the EU.

[Count Steer]

...and NATO is a political alliance not a geological one.

(Though frankly, why anyone that could do the job would want it at the salary on offer is beyond me).

Correct, and it makes sense to give that role to a member from that political union, and not a political union such as the EU.

Which they almost certainly will, but the EU has 21 (22?) members out of the 31 in NATO (29 are actually in Europe) the USA will want someone with (hopefully) some influence on that bloc. They don't need influence over the UK, they already have it, and the UK doesn't have much influence over the EU - oddly.

You may not like it but seriously, how do you think it's going to pan out? They could go for a neutral figure from outside the bloc ie Norway (again) if members kick up about eg a German or French candidate but I'll stake money they won't want anyone from the UK. I can't see them picking a Turk or a Canadian. The Netherlands isn't a bad bet, a founding member, non-EU and all that if they want a 'neutral'.

(All bets are off if it's after the next USA elections ).

[Yorick]

This made me giggle

Novak Djokovic has been fined $8,000 (£6,117) for smashing his racquet against the net post during the Wimbledon men's singles final.

The incident occurred in the fifth set of his loss to Spain's Carlos Alcaraz when the 36-year-old Serb's serve was broken in the third game.

Umpire Fergus Murphy immediately issued Djokovic a warning for a code violation for the transgression.

The money will be deducted from his runner-up cheque of £1.175m.

[Skub]

This made me giggle

Novak Djokovic has been fined $8,000 (£6,117) for smashing his racquet against the net post during the Wimbledon men's singles final.

The incident occurred in the fifth set of his loss to Spain's Carlos Alcaraz when the 36-year-old Serb's serve was broken in the third game.

Umpire Fergus Murphy immediately issued Djokovic a warning for a code violation for the transgression.

The money will be deducted from his runner-up cheque of £1.175m.

Harsh,but that'll teach him.

[Horse]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-66226873

Millions of US military emails have been mistakenly sent to Mali, a Russian ally, because of a minor typing error.

Emails intended for the US military's ".mil" domain have, for years, been sent to the west African country which ends with the ".ml" suffix.

Some of the emails reportedly contained sensitive information such as passwords, medical records and the itineraries of top officers.

[Bigjawa]

This made me giggle

Novak Djokovic has been fined $8,000 (£6,117) for smashing his racquet against the net post during the Wimbledon men's singles final.

The incident occurred in the fifth set of his loss to Spain's Carlos Alcaraz when the 36-year-old Serb's serve was broken in the third game.

Umpire Fergus Murphy immediately issued Djokovic a warning for a code violation for the transgression.

The money will be deducted from his runner-up cheque of £1.175m.

Harsh,but that'll teach him.

He actually hurt his wrist doing it too, the muppet!

[Ant]

That's a Princely sum for a fine

[irie]

Has she been appointed? Stoltenberg is in the job for another year+ I thought. Rutte was favourite but looks like he's quitting for quiet obscurity. Seems pretty obvious to go for someone from the EU bloc tbh.

The EU members of NATO have been a shambles for a very long time so it makes sense to put her in there to finish the job.

Especially France and Germany of course.

Edited because of following post.

[irie]

Has she been appointed? Stoltenberg is in the job for another year+ I thought. Rutte was favourite but looks like he's quitting for quiet obscurity. Seems pretty obvious to go for someone from the EU bloc tbh.

Why? The whole of the EU only contribute 20% of the NATO budget, and several EU countries especially Germany do not contribute as much as they have signed up to do.

And this ^^^

Germany has consistently spent far less than its obligation to spend at least 2% of GDP on defence. And France was not a member of NATO from 1966 (when De Gaulle took France out of NATO) until 2009 when it rejoined.

[Count Steer]

Has she been appointed? Stoltenberg is in the job for another year+ I thought. Rutte was favourite but looks like he's quitting for quiet obscurity. Seems pretty obvious to go for someone from the EU bloc tbh.

Why? The whole of the EU only contribute 20% of the NATO budget, and several EU countries especially Germany do not contribute as much as they have signed up to do.

And this ^^^

Germany has consistently spent far less than its obligation to spend at least 2% of GDP on defence. And France was not a member of NATO from 1966 (when De Gaulle took France out of NATO) until 2009 when it rejoined.

I could be wrong but I thought the 2% target was to be reached by 2025.

Anyway, as everyone is so interested in the functioning of NATO rather than taking cheap shots at EU members , here's an interesting analysis of some points/issues:

https://globalriskinsights.com/2021/03/ ... -security/

[irie]

Why? The whole of the EU only contribute 20% of the NATO budget, and several EU countries especially Germany do not contribute as much as they have signed up to do.

And this ^^^

Germany has consistently spent far less than its obligation to spend at least 2% of GDP on defence. And France was not a member of NATO from 1966 (when De Gaulle took France out of NATO) until 2009 when it rejoined.

I could be wrong but I thought the 2% target was to be reached by 2025.

Anyway, as everyone is so interested in the functioning of NATO rather than taking cheap shots at EU members , here's an interesting analysis of some points/issues:

https://globalriskinsights.com/2021/03/ ... -security/

For Germany it's always tomorrow

The 2014 “Defence Investment Pledge” (DIP) – made by Allies at the 2014 Wales Summit, the first NATO summit held after the illegal annexation of Crimea – established an important baseline by setting the goal of at least 2% of GDP spent on defence by all Allies as a political commitment agreed at the level of Heads of State and Government.

[Count Steer]

The 2014 “Defence Investment Pledge” (DIP) – made by Allies at the 2014 Wales Summit, the first NATO summit held after the illegal annexation of Crimea – established an important baseline by setting the goal of at least 2% of GDP spent on defence by all Allies as a political commitment agreed at the level of Heads of State and Government.

From the same source:

'As the Alliance approaches 2024, the tenth anniversary of the Defence Investment Pledge, all eyes will be focused on this initial deadline for reaching the 2% target. The 2023 Vilnius Summit and the 2024 Washington Summit will therefore be opportunities for NATO Leaders to review achievements and agree future commitments. These could include:....'

Might as well link the whole thing if people want the full picture.

https://www.nato.int/docu/review/articl ... index.html

[Yambo]

Mmmm, for quite a long time after 1945 the rest of Europe and the US didn't want Germany spending a lot of money on their military.

[cheb]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-66223747 - The mother of an airman who died after climbing into a commercial bin has spoken of her anger that more was not being done to stop similar tragedies.

A bloke from the RAF Regiment climbs into a bin pissed up and gets crushed and dumped into landfill.
His mum blames the bin company for not putting locks on the bins.

Grief is a funny thing and as a parent I feel for the woman, but how far does society need to go to protect people from themselves?

Seems to me to be the modern way, millions of people are mildly inconvenienced in trivial ways frequently because of one person's stupidity.