Hello everyone,

I am (partially) back, been sick whole week and only now it got a bit better (the day basically consisted of work and sleep) :) So, sorry for the delay. Here’s a nice photo (not sure where I got it from, maybe Yuri posted it somewhere) of an ISU-122 in Berlin from May 1945. The was just ended.

As you can see, the photo is digitally colorized (the author of the colorization is listed in the lower right corner). Decent work I must say.

Personally, I think that it’s the fact that the vast majority of photos and films from the era are black and white makes us to dismiss the war as something far away or even fictional – no, not denying it existed of course, just not realizing it completely that these things happened and that some people who lived and even fought through it are still alive. This in turn makes us dismiss war in Europe as something impossibe. After all, in the age of internet memes, “trolling” and “social justice warriors”, it can’t happen again, right?

Well, I am pretty sure that the German Jews were telling themselves the same thing right before the Second World War. It can happen – probably not if you’re an American, but the safety of Baltic states is another matter entirely.

What I mean by this short text is – we should not dismiss the role and strength of European militaries in the 21st century, if only as a deterrent. A modern army needs to be well trained and well equipped. So, next time your politicians are planning to purchase large amounts of expensive toys for the boys in green, don’t ask whether they need them. Ask “are these toys good enough” instead.

This rant was inspired by the IMI offer for the Czech Republic to replace one of the best T-72 upgrades in the world, the T-72M4CZ, with Sabras. They can keep that junk to themselves.