• stoy ( stoy@lemmy.zip ) 
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      9 months ago

      Nope, the EU population is larger than the US, where we are lacking is in our military power.

      And are ramping up, faster than I would have believed possible 5 years ago.

        • Axolotl ( Axolotl_cpp@feddit.it ) 
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          9 months ago

          Well, you kinda need military power, even if you don’t use it, you can’t expect countries to not attack you and just be diplomatic. Also, don’t accuse people of being [insert here ideology], it’s just childish and not better than attacking them

              • OBJECTION! ( Objection@lemmy.ml ) 
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                9 months ago

                It’s not a “strawman.” I understand that most people on here don’t want the weapons going to Israel, which is why I made the point. But the reality is that, once a weapon is built, it’s in the hands of politicians to give to whoever they like. If those politicians are pro-Israel, then even if you want the weapons for the purpose of defense, there’s a significant likelihood they’ll be used to perform genocide.

                • stoy ( stoy@lemmy.zip ) 
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                  9 months ago

                  It absolutely is a strawman, no one mentioned Israel in the discussion before you, it is also not a reason to stop increasing defense spending right now that we need to defend against Russia.

                  • OBJECTION! ( Objection@lemmy.ml ) 
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                    9 months ago

                    The fact that nobody mentioned Israel is the point. I stg. It isn’t a “strawman” to point out possible unintended consequences of supporting a policy.

                    “I think I should jump off a tall building.”

                    “Are you crazy? You’ll die!”

                    “Wow, what a strawman. Nobody even said anything about dying. I don’t support falling to my death, only the jumping.”

          • Jack ( JustJack23@slrpnk.net ) 
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            9 months ago

            Well, you kinda need military power

            First of all, no. The whole idea of globalization is that if you have economic entanglement the wars will not be profitable.

            Also there are other ways of keeping military strength without having very big military see Switzerland and all guerrilla groups successfully repelling much bigger opponents like the US.

            Also, don’t accuse people of being [insert here ideology], it’s just childish and not better than attacking them

            I mostly agree, but the meme created does represent this ideology and you can attack problematic ideologies.

            • Skua ( Skua@kbin.earth ) 
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              9 months ago

              military strength without having very big military see Switzerland

              Switzerland has mandatory military service. If you include reserves, it has a bigger military than Germany, Poland, or the UK. Not per capita, just straight up more people. If you only include active personnel it’s still comparable per capita to most European countries

        • stoy ( stoy@lemmy.zip ) 
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          9 months ago

          Only out of necessity, Russia has shown that they are done playing the diplomatic game (though they have been playing it quite badly), the US has fully shat it’s pants and is rolling around in it and China has the carving knife ready for when Russia colapses, if Europe is to survive we need to federalize.

          At an absolute minimum, we need to build a unified military under one leadership throughout the EU, military personal from the south must be expected to defend Europe in the north, and vice versa.

          I don’t see this as being right-wing, I see it as it being a reality we need to face.

          I’ll even share a detail about my general political views, out of all ideologies, I strongly believe that Social Democracy is the best, as it combined a strong government with a regulated free market.

            • How much is your socialism gonna help anybody when a fascist state overthrows you because you don’t have a military?

              Funding a defense force isn’t inherently right-wing militarism; it’s a practical necessity in the world we live in. Its primary function is as a deterrent to potential invaders, it only goes into kinetic operations when its function as a deterrent fails. All the more reason to maintain a strong military.

              Peace is more likely when your adversaries know they won’t stand a chance against you.

              • Resonosity ( Resonosity@lemmy.dbzer0.com ) 
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                9 months ago

                you don’t have a military

                The only leftist ideology that advocates against an active military is anarchism. Anarchists prefer spontaneous militias that activate as soon as another state acts on them. Obviously there are downsides to this practice as 1) gathering up a militia and organizing them can take time away from defending against outside oppressors, which can jeopardize defense in general, and 2) gathering up a militia of normal folk in a society means they won’t be actively trained in conducting warfare effectively, or at least not as much as another state that does have an active military - this also represents a lower hand which can again jeopardize defense in general.

                Marxist-Leninist communists believe that an active military that trains its population and performs drills regularly is the most suitable defense against capitalist states, since they have their own military doing the same.

                • Tell that to the person being “unapologetically socialist” whom I responded to.

                  Anarchists can’t even organize a voting bloc or a civil sector, and they think a militia will spontaneously activate when needed? Oh please.

                  For the record, I am somewhere on the left of the spectrum. I believe both social democracy and democratic socialism have their merits. I’m definitely not an ML, for various reasons including I believe they’re too authoritarian and I find them insufferable.

                  But I also believe that modern social democracies such as are found in western and northern Europe have societies and ways of life that are worth defending, even if that means fighting for them. With the threat looming to the east, I find it imperative for Europe to fund a strong military coalition/alliance.

      • Valmond ( Valmond@lemmy.dbzer0.com ) 
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        9 months ago

        It’s almost like people have forgotten history. Europe isn’t a newcomer, I just hope it won’t go to our heads, and that’s where being 27 countries together makes sense for me so hopefully only “good” things will come out of it all.

        • Oh yeah and we know they totally stopped after WW2, yup no neocolonialism or backing foreign military occupations. Just look at how Europe is treating the Palestinian occupation, they sent them unlimited weapons very strongly as an act of condemnation. Look their feelings are hurt and that’s close enough to real action.

        • No but its in northern Africa and the Middle East, I have been to Palestine personally. Those starving children don’t care that a couple of EU members have strongly worded statements when the weapons flow freely.

          I don’t care what eurolibs have to say, their actions speak significantly louder

            • Of course the very statement “in the room with us right now” clearly states the intent, that’s somewhere else to people of a different skin color so clearly it doesn’t matter. The average eurolib has no sympathy to the starving and oppressed of the global south.

              In the past the eurolib argued that they were “civilizing” them with Christianity, that has not changed yet the justifications have (now its “women’s rights”, “democracy”, and “human rights”)

              • Yep, they love to just change the meanings of those words to suit themselves.

                I would love for them to have more equality and protections for minorities of all kinds, but just enforcing that from our country or any other country is using political manipulation for a vague gain. If the shoe was on the other foot, they’d scream about election interference.

                • Well I would also love that too but butchering women wont make them more free, bombing hospitals doesn’t increase the sanctity of human life, burning children alive with Incendiary weapons wont teach them to love the west, installing dictators wont make them more democratic, and funding brutal civil wars doesn’t make minorities safer.

                  Eurolibs will insist only Americans did this but the records don’t lie, the EU was a participant and Eurolibs supported it