The Street Fashion wear of Camouflage capers

Nov 24th - 9:05 GMT +00:00
Camouflage capers
Posted by:Economist.com
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OBSERVING a pack of teens loping along a shopping street over the weekend, their belts hanging precariously half-way down their backsides, your correspondent noted that although Europe's younger population is vocally anti-war, camouflage attire (preferably worn over well-exposed designer underwear) still has its fans.
It was curious, then, to learn just how proprietary some military organisations are about their camouflage designs. Finland suspects that Russian troops that swarmed into Georgia in August were wearing uniforms with a Finnish camouflage pattern, known as M05, which is based on digital photos of Finnish forests. This has caused something of a stir in the Finnish media and blogosphere.
As the Helsinki Times reports, quoting a Russian news account, a spokesman for Russia's interior ministry flatly denied allegations that its special forces stole their look from Finland. He suggested it was "a fake story," made up by the Finns themselves.