From top to bottom:

• Netherlands
• Luxembourg
• Germany
• France
• Italy
• Spain
• Portugal
• Greece
• Ireland
• Danmark
• Norway
• Sweden
• Finland
• Iceland
• Switzerland
• Austria
• Belgium (Flandres and Wallonia)
• Scotland
• Wales
• England

Only ones I’m not sure about is fourth from bottom, but I assume it’s the french and dutch part of Belgium?

Yes, the left flag is from Flanders, the Flemish, Dutch-speaking region of Belgium, and the right from the French-speaking region Wallonia.

How does that work? The government gives him a schedule of … what exactly? Honest question, I have no idea.

I assume, it works similarly like the federal president of Germany or Austria. They sign laws and fulfil representation duties which are managed by their own office.

Does somebody claim it was?

Not really a travel warning, but a hint:

Når du skal søke om ESTA eller visum til USA, er det to kjønnsbetegnelser å velge imellom: Mann eller kvinne. USA anerkjenner kun søkerens kjønn ved fødselen. Reisende hvis nåværende kjønn avviker fra kjønnet ved fødselen, anbefales å kontakte den amerikanske ambassaden før reisen for råd og veiledning.

When you apply for an ESTA or visa to the USA, there are two gender designations to choose from: Male or Female. The US only recognises the applicant’s sex at birth. Travellers whose current gender differs from their gender at birth are advised to contact the US Embassy prior to travel for advice and guidance.

Regjeringen.no – reiseinfo USA

What happened in 2021?
Was it the arms being delivered to IKEA?

👍

First time I’ve heard from AFS. I only knew about the SD.

Federal workers legally required to remain neutral

Government employees have to act neutrally when fulfilling their job duties. But as a private person, in their free time, they are free to protest. They only must not work against the ‘liberal democratic basic order’ (FDGO) when they are regular employees or they must act in favour of the FDGO when they are civil servants (Beamte), respectively, as the latter have sworn by oath to do so.
While the existence (and security) of the state Israel has been declared national interest (Staatsräson) by our chancellors Merkel and Scholz, by itself it does not touch the FDGO. The only aspect I can think of in that regard, that would be against the FDGO, is the endorsement of terrorism.

Direct democracy on the other hand, is democratic. There is no question about that, no matter if one likes it or not.

If mass media defines/makes/shapes the public opinion, and mass media is owned by few. Isn’t any democracy becoming kind of an oligarchy then?

Nope. Basque is considered a language isolate, not related to any other language.

Wikipedia – Basque language

After becoming autonomous in 1979, Greenlanders chose to leave the EEC, the precessor of the EU, by a referendum in 1982.

There is a joined nuclear planning group of NATO where France is not and never was part of (while the UK is) and thus, preserving independence in that matter.

As far as I remember, Poland chose to cooperate with SK, as the German companies did not allow technology transfer and manufacturing of components in Poland, while South Korea did. Additionally it was also about the manufacturing capacities and the time frame of delivery. So, they didn’t chose SK over Germany, just because Germany is their neighbour.

The coordination between France and Germany in developing the FCAS was already a mess and only improved as the current MoDs harmonize on a personal level. Germany would take the leading role in developing the future MBT, while in exchange France was allowed to lead the development of the FCAS. Involving even more countries doesn’t improve that aspect.

Personally, I also would prefer, if the competences would be coordinated on EU level to avoid this haggling. While some competence is beneficial to the outcome, a lot resources are wasted as too much work is done redundantly.

Perhaps it’s carrying nuclear boms on behalf of the US is what makes this special. It’s not like a regular bomb or missile.

I didn’t want to write “industrial espionage”, but effectively it’s not very different from that, except it doesn’t happen secretly.

Exactly, but in the media, it was framed as we are always doing our own thing instead buying from US, as this would be faster and cheaper. However, the radical shift of US politcs in the last weeks shows, it was a good choice to avoid US products where possible and we have to develop replacements for those US systems we are currently using too.

Thanks for the information about the cerification procedure of the Eurofighter. I’ve thought it was more about the time this would take instead of the inherent transfer of knowledge that would go along with it when providing all documentation and blueprints.

At the moment, Germany and France are cooperating in the development of a future MBT and a future fighter jet without the US.
Recently the discussion was more about, why the Europeans, especially Germany, are developing own equipment instead of buying already market ready US equipments. This is how we ended up buying the F-35 (yet there was an additional strong time constraint on that one).

That’s why, we usually refer to them as Union. However, it’s a loose one, as the Bavarian party often does it’s own thing.