World
Reminiscent of Nazi era? German police forced to explain controversial logo in new armored cars
Logos on the seats in new armored vehicles acquired by the police Special Forces unit in the German ..

Logos on the seats in new armored vehicles acquired by the police Special Forces unit in the German state of Saxony have provoked a wave of indignation on social media, as they appear to be reminiscent of a Nazi emblem.
The Saxony Special Forces (SEK), a unit particularly tasked with conducting anti-terrorist operations in the region, received its first new armored vehicles, called “Survivor R,” on Friday. The 17-ton cars have enough armor to withstand a machine-gun assault and even an explosion and can carry up to 10 officers.
However, it is not the vehicle’s combat characteristics that have attracted public attention. The armored cars sparked widespread criticism on social media due to the fact that the backs of its seats were adorned with a logo that was strikingly similar to what looked like a Nazi emblem.
“What a beautiful logo!” one person wrote sarcastically in a Twitter post featuring a photo of the unfortunate design. He then added that it looks “almost like [the one] from the older [Nazi] times” and “lacks only an eagle and a swastika.”
People also noticed the Gothic script used in the decoration of the seat backs. “I ask myself if such designations and script should have really been used,” another person said on Twitter, emphasizing that instead of “Special Forces” a simple “Saxony police” in some more up-to-date style would be much less controversial.
Ich frage mich auch, muss die Bezeichnung und Schriftart so verwandt werden ? In alter deutscher Schrift „ SpezialeinsatzKommando“. Hätte nicht gereicht „Polizei Sachsen“ und in einer zeitgemässen Schrift ? Aber was weiss ich schon
pic.twitter.com/CKw3qVyTJ8
— Manu Verneuil (@dandy_bo) December 17, 2017
The logo indeed looks like a coat of arms put inside an oak wreath with what resembles eagle wings on each side. The fact that it looked nothing like the one of the Free State of Saxony also did not escape the public attention. The logos in Survivor R “feature a coat of arms with a crown and lions and is clearly reminiscent of the Kingdom of Saxony,” another person said in a Tweet.
The scale of the controversy even prompted a local MP from the Green Party to file an official request with the police, demanding an explanation concerning the approval of the controversial design.
The public outrage was so massive that it initially prompted Saxony’s Interior Ministry to de facto shift the blame for the scandal on the manufacturer – the German company Rheinmetal. “The vehicle was delivered to us with this logo on the seat backs by the supplier,” the statement says, adding that the “script chosen by the supplier” also “does not correspond” with official list of the police emblems, logos and scripts.
Das Fahrzeug wurde mit dieser Bestickung der Sitze vom Hersteller so ausgeliefert. Auch wenn die vom Hersteller gewählte Schriftart nicht dem Markenhandbuch entspricht: Darin ein Indiz für rechte Attitüde zu sehen, weisen wir entschieden zurück.
— SMI Sachsen (@SMIsachsen) December 17, 2017
However, this explanation did not soothe the public anger as the police themselves earlier said that the vehicles were in line with their demands. In an official video of police receiving the cars, which was published on YouTube on Saturday, a representative of the regional police department, Sven Mewes, can be seen saying that “in general, the vehicle exactly fits our expectations.”
The scandal eventually made the ministry to issue an official statement in an attempt to address public concerns. “We categorically deny all accusations concerning the fact that the logo was allegedly purported to show any links to National Socialism [Nazism],” the statement says, adding that the script used in the decoration also was “by no means intended to trigger any such associations."
It further explained that the logo used in the decoration of the seats is actually the official logo of the SEK used since 1991. At the same time, it said that the logo used in the cars does not correspond with the official list of the police emblems and “is used for internal purposes only.” As for the coat of arms, the ministry also said that it is linked to the SEK as the crown symbolizes the unit’s call sign while the lions are in fact that “lions of the city of Leipzig,” where the unit’s headquarters is located.
The ministry also said that it would take public concerns into consideration and “critically assess” the usage of this logo. It, however, said nothing about any changes in the controversial design.
READ MORE: Nazi Wehrmacht memorabilia found at German army barracks amid far-right probe – media
In the meantime, this explanation also seems to have further fueled the controversy, as people started to wonder why a police unit has had such a logo for over two decades at all and no one has got concerned about it until now.
The post Reminiscent of Nazi era? German police forced to explain controversial logo in new armored cars appeared first on News Wire Now.
World
Nuclear annihilation just one miscalculation away, UN chief warns

The world is one misstep from devastating nuclear war and in peril not seen since the Cold War, the UN Secretary General has warned.
“We have been extraordinarily lucky so far,” Antonio Guterres said.
Amid rising global tensions, “humanity is just one misunderstanding, one miscalculation away from nuclear annihilation”, he added.
His remarks came at the opening of a conference for countries signed up to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
The 1968 deal was introduced after the Cuban missile crisis, an event often portrayed as the closest the world ever came to nuclear war. The treaty was designed to stop the spread of nuclear weapons to more countries, and to pursue the ultimate goal of complete nuclear disarmament.
Almost every nation on Earth is signed up to the NPT, including the five biggest nuclear powers. But among the handful of states never to sign are four known or suspected to have nuclear weapons: India, Israel, North Korea and Pakistan.
Secretary General Guterres said the “luck” the world had enjoyed so far in avoiding a nuclear catastrophe may not last – and urged the world to renew a push towards eliminating all such weapons.
“Luck is not a strategy. Nor is it a shield from geopolitical tensions boiling over into nuclear conflict,” he said.
And he warned that those international tensions were “reaching new highs” – pointing specifically to the invasion of Ukraine, tensions on the Korean peninsula and in the Middle East as examples.
Russia was widely accused of escalating tensions when days after his invasion of Ukraine in February, President Vladimir Putin put Russia’s substantial nuclear forces on high alert.
He also threatened anyone standing in Russia’s way with consequences “you have never seen in your history”. Russia’s nuclear strategy includes the use of nuclear weapons if the state’s existence is under threat.
On Monday, Mr Putin wrote to the same non-proliferation conference Mr Guterres opened, declaring that “there can be no winners in a nuclear war and it should never be unleashed”.
But Russia still found itself criticised at the NPT conference.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemned what he called Russia’s sabre-rattling – and pointed out that Ukraine had handed over its Soviet-era nuclear weapons in 1994, after receiving assurances of its future security from Russia and others.
“What message does this send to any country around the world that may think that it needs to have nuclear weapons – to protect, to defend, to deter aggression against its sovereignty and independence?” he asked. “The worst possible message”.
Today, some 13,000 nuclear weapons are thought to remain in service in the arsenals of the nine nuclear-armed states – far lower than the estimated 60,000 stockpiled during the peak of the mid-1980s.
Read from: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-62381425
World
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World
US military leader warns Chinese security deal with Solomon Islands sounds ‘too good to be true’

A senior US military general has warned during a visit to Australia that China’s offer to deepen security ties with Solomon Islands will come with strings attached, suggesting the Pacific island country may come to regret the planned deal.
“My parents told me if a deal sounds too good to be true, it probably is,” the commandant of the United States Marine Corps, general David Berger, said on Wednesday.
Berger was cautious when asked about longstanding US concerns relating to a Chinese company’s lease over the port of Darwin, stressing it was a sovereign decision for Australia as part of its yet-to-be-completed national security review.
Ahead of a trip to Darwin, the site of increasing rotations of US Marines, Berger said: “If it’s not of concern to Australia, then it’s not of concern to me.”
Berger’s visit comes amid a flurry of diplomatic activity by the US and Australia attempting to head off a proposed security agreement between China and Solomon Islands, which could allow regular visits by the People’s Liberation Army Navy.
A leaked draft from last month raised the possibility China could “make ship visits to, carry out logistical replenishment in, and have stopover and transition in Solomon Islands”, while Chinese forces could also be used “to protect the safety of Chinese personnel and major projects in Solomon Islands”.
The prime minister of Solomon Islands, Manasseh Sogavare, has sought to allay concerns, saying his country has no intention of allowing a Chinese naval base. But Sogavare has also said it is “very insulting to be branded as unfit to manage our sovereign affairs”.
Speaking in Canberra on Wednesday, Berger said the US needed to show humility in its outreach to Pacific nations, but also needed to be open about the potential long-term consequences.
Berger reflected on the fight for control of Guadalcanal in Solomon Islands during the second world war, when the US and allies sought to prevent Japanese forces from gaining a foothold in the strategically important location.
“A lot of things change in warfare. Not geography. Where … Solomon Islands are matters. It did then and it does now,” Berger said at the Australian Strategic Policy
Institute.
He said the proposed agreement was “just another example” of China seeking to broaden and expand its influence. He raised concerns about “the way that [it] happens and the consequences for the nations” involved.
Sogavare has argued Solomon Islands pursues a “friends to all and enemies to none” foreign policy, but Berger implied countries making agreements with Beijing might regret it down the track.
“We should illuminate, we should draw out into the open what this means long term,” Berger said.
“This is, in other words, an extension of ‘hey we’re here with a cheque, we’re here with money, we’d like to improve your port or your airfield or your bus station’. And that just sounds so great, until a year later or six months later.”
The US plans to reopen its embassy in Solomon Islands, a move the nominee for US ambassador to Australia, Caroline Kennedy, has said “can’t come soon enough”.
Berger acknowledged there were limits to US insights in Pacific island countries, so the US needed to rely on allies such as Australia.
“We’re not going to have always the best view, the clearest picture,” he said.
“We have to understand the neighbourhood and we’re never going to understand it as well as Australia.”
Earlier, the Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, denied that the US had conveyed any concerns that Australia had dropped the ball in the region.
Morrison said the Australian government was continuing to raise concerns with Solomon Islands without acting in a “heavy-handed” way.
Australia’s minister for the Pacific, Zed Seselja, met with Sogavare in Honiara on Wednesday and “asked Solomon Islands respectfully to consider not signing the agreement” with China.
Seselja suggested Solomon Islands “consult the Pacific family in the spirit of regional openness and transparency”. Australia would work with Solomon Islands “swiftly, transparently and with full respect for its sovereignty”.
“We welcome recent statements from prime minister Sogavare that Australia remains Solomon Islands’ security partner of choice, and his commitment that Solomon Islands will never be used for military bases or other military institutions of foreign powers,” Seselja said.
Sogavare has previously said Solomon Islands welcomed “any country that is willing to support us in our security space”.
But Matthew Wale, the leader of the opposition, has argued the deal “would make the Solomons a geopolitical playing field” and “further threaten the nation’s fragile unity”.
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