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Comment by girvo | Hacker News Reader

What would the possible motive be for doing this on purpose, do you think? Also thanks for the best beer ever

Could always be a personal conflict with other technicians/personnel, of course - or a curious form of sabotage. However, on the political front, renewing the F16s in Belgium has been a point of some controversy. The other EU countries (and the US, through the NATO) expect us to stay up to date with military hardware, but Belgian politicians are hesitant to actually spend the money, as it puts the budgets under heavy pressure (and because - presumably - large parts of the public will claim that we did not actually need them, so that we spent billions 'for nothing', billions we could have spent on 'more useful' items). The military is not too happy with this hesitation, so if some speculation is allowed: this situation might move some in the military to take (potentially strange kinds of) action.

Sabotage is possible. Several people in EU militaries have joined ISIS.

Source?

https://nltimes.nl/2017/04/03/dutch-sergeant-suspected-joini...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israfil_Yilmaz

https://www.bndestem.nl/oosterhout/naar-is-overgelopen-serge...

I was in Belgium last year (visiting where dad fought at Elsenborn Ridge[0]) and something I was curious about - after Belgium had been occupied in WW-I, and it became obvious during the inter-war years[1] that Germany was rearming, why didn't they launch a crash defense program?

With Russia now becoming increasingly aggressive, I would think the time to prepare a deterrence is now.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Elsenborn_Ridge [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxkk8CuejV4

They mobilized 20% of the male population, built large modern fortifications and had a strong air force. The germans just had better weapons and better tactics and rolled over them in 18 days.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Belgium

My Flemisch grandad was in the second WW. Back then all official things in Belgium were in French. Can you imagine a Flemisch farmer getting French instructions? Must have been real chaos I suppose.

So many nationalities served in so many armies with officers that didn't speak their own language (think of the USSR, the Italian colonies, the French colonies, the British colonies, the French enlisted in the RAF in WW2...). It isn't so hard to understand military orders when you're doing it on a daily basis.

Belgium was bristling with defenses in WW2. In the same way France, Poland and the Western front of Russia were. They had networks of expensive forts with numerous gun turrets on them.

eg. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Fort_Eben-Emael

Wars tend to expose obsolete military doctrines. Big fortresses on land and sea (battleships) that can bombard targets many miles away are great if the enemy doesn't just fly in.

Never underestimate the fact that people also "go nuts." They might regret it later but a little late and a dollar short. It happens

Some people are just jerks.

https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2018/05/09/soldier-...

If you watch the video you’ll see the type of clown he is.

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