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According to the AP, NY Times and a boat load of other AP carriers, the country boasting the loudest about how much of their energy needs are fulfilled by renewable sources, coal may be about to win out over one of the oldest forests still standing in Germany:
BERLIN (AP) — A court in western Germany says an ancient forest near the Belgian border can be chopped down to make way for a coal strip mine.
Cologne's administrative court ruled Friday against a legal complaint brought by the environmental group BUND that wanted to halt the clearance of much of the Hambach forest.
Hambach forest has become a focus of environmental protests against the expansion of a vast mine that supplies much of the coal used in nearby power plants.
The coal, a light brown variety called lignite, is considered one of the most polluting forms of fossil fuel.
Meanwhile their reactors are being systematically shut down and dismantled. But dirty coal use shows almost no decline.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 27 2017, @10:58AM (1 child)
The Russians didn't need infinite manpower, just more than the Germans. It worked.
I'm perfectly aware of the timeline events, unit TO&E's, commander's biographies, and weapon technical specifications. As an armchair general, I can reasonably claim 4-star rank with some justification. I served in the US Army Signal Corps for eight years as a commissioned officer who attended the AWC at Carlisle, and have studied military history from a professional perspective.
I chose November because that was the Germans' last decent chance for an organized strategic withdrawal. After that, not even the great Manstein, albeit with inadequate forces (there's those damned numbers again) could save them.
The timing (the arrival of General Winter) was also critical. To quote my favorite band, history shows again and again how nature points out the folly of man.
Look, there are many "if only x had done y" scenarios that might have led to different tactical outcomes on the chessboard of battle, but ultimately war is economics. Russia had he greater pool of resources, and the will to commit them. Hitler underestimated both.
Strategically, thankfully, the Germans were just plain fucked from the get-go, just as the Japanese had no chance against the US. If only so many millions hadn't had to die to prove it.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday November 27 2017, @04:02PM
What would be the point of withdrawal? Germany didn't have a more defensible border further west. And that would have just given the Soviets more resources and people with which to invade Germany. Germany either defeated the USSR or it would die to the USSR. Such was the nature of the gamble they took when they first invaded.