[EliRivers]

The Czech president, Milos Zeman, wants his country to be China’s “unsinkable aircraft-carrier” in Europe.

I understand a fuller quote is "an unsinkable aircraft carrier of Chinese investment expansion". We have not yet reached the point where the ambition of European countries is to become a military base for China.

[coldtea]

No, it's just the US still that has that privilege, with military bases all over Europe and direct involvement in European politics ever since WWII (and even before).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Gladio for some of the most shameless cases...

[tome]

> for some of the most shameless cases

And serving as a buffer against the territorial ambitions of the USSR for 45 years, for one of the least shameful cases ...

[lev99]

Most of the bases were well welcomed during the cold war. NATO has probably done just as much to insure peace inside it's countries as the EU has.

[cronz]

No offence but that's just laughable. You just have to look at the Balkans right now. Ham-fisted is an understatement.

[laingc]

Yeah, I don’t think it’s historically accurate to compare the contributions of the EU and NATO to peace and security in Europe. These are entirely the work of NATO. The EU is made possible by the Pax Americana.

[Shorel]

Pax Atomica.

I am sure there would not be any peace if the USA was the only country with nukes.

[tome]

Sorry, what? One war in Europe in 70 years and somehow that's ham-fisted?

[throwaway8689]

I think the parent was referring to the Balkan wars in the 90s, which still affect people's lives now.

[adventured]

It's not the Balkan wars of the 90s that are affecting people's lives today, it's a very old perpetual conflict of culture. That was the cause of the Balkan war in the first place. That conflict will never cease, it's a perma friction between very different cultures that largely don't like each other.

[cronz]

First, what makes you think there could have been other wars?

Second, do you really think that the solution that was given in the Balkans is good? Even today, many people are deeply unhappy about it.

[sgift]

> Second, do you really think that the solution that was given in the Balkans is good? Even today, many people are deeply unhappy about it.

If all sides are a bit unhappy it probably was a very good compromise.

[lev99]

Europe has a long history of warfare that seemed to have halted around the NATO. I think the presence of a strong military alliance and the presence of peace have a high probability of being connected.

[tome]

> what makes you think there could have been other wars?

Military buildup in Europe during 1945-1991, the vast scale of which dwarfs anything ever seen on planet earth.

[rospaya]

Which one? The one in Bosnia that NATO stopped or the one in Kosovo that NATO stopped?

[coldtea]

>Most of the bases were well welcomed during the cold war

Only if you never bothered to ask the center- and left-inclined population of each country (which was quite substantial) -- and ignored the protests against them.

And with the help of a few interventions (e.g. in Italy) and dictatorships (e.g. in Greece) imposed when needed to keep some pro-US goons in government.

[xyzal]

As a Czech citizen I only regret the bases were not built a few hundered kilometers more to the east. Forty years under Russian influence were devastating to my country.

[CamperBob2]

Of course, we are now beginning to understand just how good the Russians are at agitprop, misdirection, false-flag rabble-rousing, and general social subversion.

Just how much of the European "protest culture" of the 1970s and 1980s actually grew organically, without covert Soviet backing?

[saiya-jin]

Soviets did back leftist movements across western Europe, and CIA backed dissent in eastern Europe. And each were trying to eliminate other's pawns in the game. So what? This never starts in vacuum, no protest movement gains momentum in a happy population.

[v_lisivka]

Zero.

[CamperBob2]

OK, that's one vote for 'zero', from a place that didn't allow the people to vote at all during the time period in question. Anyone else?

[coldtea]

>Just how much of the European "protest culture" of the 1970s and 1980s actually grew organically, without covert Soviet backing?

A, yes, it was the Russians all along, which, retroactively also proves that they control the world now from some building in St. Petersburg. And when they get some friendly lackey in power like Yeltsin again and be buddies and everything, there will be another enemy du jour, arabs (just not the Saudis) are good for that.

It's not like there ever was a very strong European left movement (or an American one for that matter), or that people in different countries in Europe have devoted their lives, risked careers, gone to prison, even tortured or executed for being pro-communist (or perhaps they did all that because they were paid)...

[def_true_false]

> ... people in different countries in Europe have devoted their lives, risked careers, gone to prison, even tortured or executed for being pro-communist

Or, if they happened to be in Eastern Europe, for being anti-communist... funny how that works.

[dejv]

Unfortunately our president is not really competent anymore and his view of our country being the base for China's investment in Europe is wishful thinking. His advisor, CEO of CEFC (China's conglomerate) was arrested for money laundering and other crimes, conglomerate itself gets rolled into another conglomerate structure and most of the assets were liquidated. Sure there might be other funds comming soon, but it seems unlikely.

[xyzal]

Please keep in mind he is just an old grumpy man who is slowly losing his facilities. i.e. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-44494476

[thom]

I only really have visibility of this from the football side of China's Czech investment, but this aircraft carrier has experience some stormy waters, to say the least:

https://thesefootballtimes.co/2018/08/22/aston-villa-slavia-...

[slezyr]

> Secondly, Putin also said that he considered Crimea as a "fortress" and "unsinkable aircraft carrier," located in NATO's southern “underbelly.”