KYIV – Ukraine will likely receive it first shipment of advanced F-16s in the next few days, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte told President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in a phone call as Kyiv seeks to disrupt Russia’s air superiority over Ukrainian skies amid continued battles on December 23 in the east and south of the country.

“Today, I informed President Zelenskiy of our government’s decision to prepare an initial 18 F-16 fighter aircraft for delivery to Ukraine,” Rutte said late on December 22 in a post on social media platform X.

  • Hyperreality@kbin.social
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    11 months ago

    The reason Rutte is pushing this through ASAP is because Wilders ‘won’ the last election, and might become the next PM. He’s widely seen as pro-Putin.

      • SMillerNL@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        He’s the head of the biggest party. He didn’t personally win since NL doesn’t vote for heads of state on a personal basis.

      • Hyperreality@kbin.social
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        11 months ago

        What SMillerNL said. Also: he didn’t gain an absolute majority, and as the Netherlands doesn’t use a first past the post system like the US or UK, he’ll need to form a coalition government to be able to rule the country.

    • Linkerbaan@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      Rutte wants to become the next head of NATO which is why he randomly ditched his spot as Dutch PM and let the entire cabinet fall.

      He’s just trying to give the military industrial complex an insane amount of taxpayer money and make Europe more like America without Healthcare.

      • Hyperreality@kbin.social
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        11 months ago

        Rutte is a twat.

        The F35 was ordered a decade ago. The decision to replace the ageing F16 was basically already made twenty years ago, IRC one of the Balkenende governments:

        Archived Dutch article.

        The Netherlands is part of the nuclear sharing agreement with the US. The F16 is nuclear capable but over 30 years old. The F35 is also nuclear capable and replaced it. The Dutch government would have had to withdraw from nuclear sharing and seriously damaged its relationship with the US.

        and make Europe more like America without Healthcare.

        The US spends almost twice as much on healthcare as the Netherlands. Saying that the Netherlands or the US must choose between healthcare and defense, is a false dichotomy. One often pushed by Russian and Chinese propagandists.

        Last time I checked, the Netherlands spends less than 1.5% of GDP on defense. That’s still less than the 2% agreed upon by Balkenende in 2014.

        You invest in defense, or you get pushed around by countries like China or Russia. That means more expensive fuel, imports, less ability to export, etc. It means less jobs and everyone’s poorer. If they think you’re weak, they’re also more likely to make stupid mistakes, like blow up another civilian airliner or use a toxic nerve agent that could have killed thousands near a UK military base in a show of force. If you’re strong, they’re more careful, and we can all live in peace for a while longer.

        If Trump gets re-elected, which isn’t unlikely, he will continue to undermine NATO. If Ukraine falls, Putin will become emboldened. Russia has lost a lot of troops in Ukraine, but they have increased conscription. According to the experts, they’ve moved their economy to a war footing. If they win in Ukraine, they will be stronger, more experienced, and more dangerous than they’ve been in decades. When that happens, that 1.5% will likely have to be double or even tripled to ensure things stay stable and mistakes aren’t made.

        Honestly, this reminds me a lot of climate change. People burying their heads in the sand, rather than admit the reality. Even after countless warnings and half a million casulties in a European war, people are still trying to pretend nothing’s changed.

        • Linkerbaan@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          Rutte heavily destroyed the country’s Healthcare system and introduced student loans. The Dutch healthcare system is starting to look more like the American one every year.

          He randomly let the entire cabinet fall on a non-issue that his party now doesn’t even care about anymore to get a new coalition going.

          The requirement for peace isn’t more war planes to bomb the middle east with though Westerners can not seem to imagine having peace with anyone by not violently oppressing them.

          • Hyperreality@kbin.social
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            11 months ago

            Rutte heavily destroyed the country’s Healthcare system and introduced student loans. The Dutch healthcare system is starting to look more like the American one every year.

            Correct, but irrelevant to military spending.

            Military spending is still low and it is possible for a country to spend a bit more on defense and have a good healthcare system.

            Giving Ukraine some 30 year old F16s, which were going to be scrapped anyway, costs almost nothing compared to what is spent on healthcare. Suggesting you have to choose is a logical fallacy.

            If anything, giving Ukraine some more military aid, reduces the risk of Russian invasion or increased provocations, which in turn reduces the need to increase military spending in the long term. Giving Ukraine some more military aid now, ultimately means we will almost certainly have MORE money to spend on healthcare.

            He randomly let the entire cabinet fall on a non-issue that his party now doesn’t even care about anymore to get a new coalition going.

            Correct. But this has little to do with buying new planes, a decision which was made decades ago (if it wasn’t the brits would still be using spitfires), or sending Ukraine a few 30 year old planes.

            The requirement for peace isn’t more war planes

            Incorrect. The best way to ensure peace, is to ensure your military is strong enough to deter foreign countries from invading.

            Eg. North Korea vs. Ukraine.

            One has nukes. One had nukes. Guess which one was invaded?

            Appeasement doesn’t work. Claiming you’re neutral doesn’t work either.

            Didn’t work the Belgians during WWI.

            Didn’t work for the Netherlands during WWII.

            Didn’t work for Latvia. Didn’t work for Lithuania.

            Didn’t work for Hungary in 1956.

            Didn’t work for Ukraine in 2014.

            Westerners can not seem to imagine having peace with anyone by not violently oppressing them.

            The Chinese and Russians certainly can’t, judging by what they’ve been up to in Ukraine, South East Asia, Xinjiang and Sudan.

            The problem seems to be that a lot of people assume European supremacy and can’t conceive of us being the victims who need to defend ourselves from Imperial powers. That’s why like you they can’t grasp needing planes for anything other than foreign wars. Because you’ve never experienced war, you don’t seem to grasp what the primary purpose of a country’s military is defence not foreign interventions or humanitarian missions.

            The reality is that we are incredibly weak because we’ve spent far too little on defense for decades, and because Europe has been stagnating in relative terms, and has been for years. And yes, that is costing us money and jobs.