Kosovo – Serbia Increased Tensions
There were increased tensions on the Serbia – Kosovo border this week when the Kosovan government attempted again to order the 50,000 Serbians living there to switch from using Serbian car number plates to Kosovan ones along with other documentation. This led to an immediate reaction from the ethnic Serbians, with road blocks set up on two cross-border roads and shots fired, although nobody was hurt. Eventually NATO intervened, but some have suggested that Russia was behind this current spate of border troubles, agitating to draw NATO attention away from the Ukraine conflict,
The MoD awarded a £5.5 billion contract to provide some 589 variants of the Ajax vehicle to replace the UK’s obsolete reconnaissance armoured and support vehicles. This was over ten years ago, and despite the expenditure of – so far – £3.2 billion of the agreed sum the British army has not taken delivery of any which can be operated safely. Westminster’s Public Accounts Committee has now lost patience with the project and has set a deadline of December 2022 for a decision one way or another on the vehicle’s viability.
A recurring theme on British army social media channels is the debate about whether soldiers should be allowed to grow beards. Maybe the Army could lighten up a little bit when it comes to facial hair? In the final analysis, faced with the choice between a trendy beard and avoiding certain death from a chemical attack most folk would choose the latter, would they not? So perhaps beards in peacetime and clean-shaven in wartime might be the way to go.