They are now an integral part of the French Army Frenchie - their officers swear loyalty to France, but the NCOs and other Legionnaires swear only to the Legion itself.
That is the bit that seems odd. You would ask how reliable they are if not serving the country, yet most countries do not want them getting involved in disputes.
Seems that he has seen which way the crowd is moving. BREAKING: Boris Johnson has just announced that Ukrainian refugees can come to the UK without a visa if they already have family here.
Their loyalty is to each other Frenchie 'Legio patria nostra' and all that stuff. The Legion itself is part of the French Army and is involved in many Nato exercises. This is why their involvement in Ukraine is odd - they would need to remove all FFL insignia otherwise they could be seen as Nato troops whilst there which the Russians would create a stink about.
Yes you are right about removing any French insignia. The lot that I travelled to Corsica were taking part in NATO exercises as I discovered when tanks started to be lowered onto the beach from helicopters.
Sorry, Fez, thought I’d replied, but it was still a draft! I agree with your comments, but the CIA have been active and are active in the region too.
So now the UKs very own photo op queen is being blamed by Russia for the escalation to put nuclear weapons on standby. "There had been statements by various representatives at various levels about possible conflict situations and even collisions and clashes between Nato and the Russian Federation," said Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for Vladimir Putin. "We consider such statements absolutely unacceptable. I will not name the authors of these statements, although it was the British foreign secretary." It seems that some of the current government ministers are out of their depth on the world stage. I do wonder why they picked her out though.
I would expect nothing less, and rightly so. All sorts of shenanigans from all sides so the CIA and MI5, or whatever our equivalent is these days, need to be keeping an eye on this hitherto not entirely stable now a warzone region. But putin's folly needs to be stopped here and now. Just because he thinks he has an excuse to invade another country that doesn't mean that he actually has. Quite what the UK can actually do about it I don't really know.
True, but it’s not that different to our illegal invasion of Iraq, is it? And we didn’t even border Iraq.
Politically they are not in Putin’s league. I hope Biden is solid, I don’t know much about him. I also hope this is just stringent ‘muscle-flexing’ in response to Russia feeling aggrieved at breaches of Minsk agreements. I hope, anyway. In general, I think they are all bastards, playing ‘chess’ with civilians and kids in uniforms as the pawns. And the real ‘chess’ player is that Russian master.
Saw a meme online that I can't find now It was a Russian General briefing the men guarding Putin It was roughly This is Vladimir Putin our glorious leader and father of our proud nation, you will guard him with your very lives If he makes a single move towards the Red Button shoot the crazy bastard I think there maybe a hint of truth in there
While I'm not keen on the "to destroy as many Russian soldiers as we can" sentiment, fair play to all those who have donated to help Ukrainians in their hour of need. I guess banks around the world might be sweating a bit as more people start to realise how handy bitcoin is. https://news.sky.com/story/ukraine-...y-as-many-russian-soldiers-as-we-can-12553095
I wonder if she knows what a 'no fly zone' actually is? Creating one would likely lead to more death & destruction, not only in her country but around the globe too. But, yes - she had Johnson standing there looking like a naughty schoolboy awaiting punishment for his misdemeanours.
I've no idea who Truss thinks she is - but this pose must surely take the cake for its sheer ridiculousness.
President Emmanuel Macron warned the French people tonight that they were at “the beginning of a new epoch” in which “democracy is challenged before our eyes” and “war in Europe is no longer a question for the history books.” In a sombre 14 mins TV address, sitting beside the , & flags, Macron warned that the Ukraine conflict would be long & was heading into an even grimmer phase. There would be severe economic consequences for France which Govt would try to ease with a “resilience plan” Macron said the West was “not at war with Russia” and had no intention of starting one. He defended his decision to stay in phone contact with Vladimir Putin – two calls since the war began – as necessary to “prevent any contagion or enlargement of the conflict” Macron, as expected, did not use the TV address to declare his formal entry to the French election campaign (something he must do by Friday). He said the campaign must go on as normally and democratically as possible Macron gave a foretaste however of what is likely to be one of his principle campaign themes – the lessons to be learned from the war for the future of & need for the EU to become a strategic "power" with its own defence policy. He will raise at EU summit next week. Finally, Maccron said that Framce must increase its military spending to take account of the threat “not from the Russian people” but from a Vlaidimir Putin who had broken every promise and ripped up every agreement that he had made”.
A reminder: EU sanctions on Russia came into effect at 4am on Monday. In the UK, they won’t begin for another month. Since Boris Johnson came to power, the Tories have accepted nearly two million pounds from prominent Russian-born donors. An intriguing dichotomy no?
