Soft Apocalypse Invasion

This is not a speculative invasion, but an invasion in fact.

A soft apocalypse is normally thought of as a slow moving apocalypse which begins without any clear delineation as to its beginning.  You just sort of work your way into it and the next thing you know, your living in an apocalyptic, catastrophic setting. It is a gradual, incremental collapse.

Welcome to the Soft Apocalypse

Scott Timberg, io9, 29 January 2010

Sometimes, things are rough. Not everybody plays fair. Nobody drives Beemers any more. The style of the soft apocalypse fits somewhere between the uber-violent "hard apocalypse" (The Book of Revelation, The Clash's "London Calling," Cormac McCarthy's The Road) and the "happy apocalypse" (Noah's Arc, Asimov's Foundation books, or the '70s novel Ecotopia), where civilization falls but is replaced by something better. Sometimes, of course, it's just a matter of tone: Road Warrior shows us humanity surviving after devastation, but it's hard to call anything there "soft."

However, as the not very nice dictatorship of Belarus has discovered there is another type of soft apocalypse.  A soft and cuddly apocalypse.

In this case, an invasion of teddy bears.  To be exact, paratrooper teddy bears.

teddy bear paratroopers - in the war zone (from BBC video)

In protest, over a lack of free speech, teddy bears bearing protest placards parachuted into their capital of Minsk this last 4th of July.  As the teddy bears were not able to fly the plane themselves, it appears that Finish nationals were at the helm.

Belarus was not amused, and in jailed one of their local journalists for publishing photos of the teddy bears on his website.

Belarus admits air invasion by teddy bears
Douglas Stanglin, USA Today, 27 July 2012 (hat tip:  Fark)

"How can you explain that a light aircraft, which not only crossed the border, but also with impunity, invaded the territory of the Republic of Belarus? It is first and foremost a matter of the safety of our citizens," Lukashenko said at meeting Thursday on the modernization of the armed forces, according to news agency Interfax.

He said the perpetrators would be punished, as well as some members of the military, border and security forces who allowed the plane to fly unchallenged.

 Belarus sits on the main invasion highway from Poland to Moscow.  The Russians might not be to happy with their new cuddly neighbors in such a strategic spot.  However, since the bear is the animal most associated with Russia (as in the Russian Bear), possibly air mobile fuzzies will be viewed as natural allies.