- cross-posted to:
- world@quokk.au
- cross-posted to:
- world@quokk.au
“Let us not call ‘defence’ a rearmament that increases tensions and insecurity, impoverishes investments in education and health, betrays trust in diplomacy, and enriches elites who care nothing for the common good,” said the pontiff.
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The problem in our situation right now is that diplomacy kind of failed and that we are dealing with bad faith actors and states who are not really trustworthy. We’ve seen Putin agreeing to the Minsk peace treaties while preparing for another big attack on Ukraine. We’ve seen the USA electing Trump and going batshit insane.
So two of the major powers have kind of abandoned the idea that diplomacy is worth anything. You can’t trust Putin, you can’t trust Trump. So you need to be able to defend yourself.
We’ve seen Putin agreeing to the Minsk peace treaties while preparing for another big attack on Ukraine. We’ve seen the USA electing Trump and going batshit insane.
While Ukraine needed the time to prepare its defence and Trump delivered weapons for that.
German energy policy is recommitting to gas instead of renewables while Palantir is introduced to a federal state by the Green party and Germany still buys F-35.
The political alliances are more complex.
Defensive capabilities can serve as deterrence, and in that sense can actually ensure peace. He should know that much.
“blessed are the πραεῖς, for they shall inherit the earth”
πραεῖς = praeis = meek (closest English word. Not great imo) = Greek word that describes a person who has strength but restrains it. A strong man who yokes himself for the good of his community and for God. Someone capable of force, who is restrained by discipline against their own impulses.
Thanks for that! I wonder what other words could be substituted in
I’m pretty sure this is the original Greek word in the original text but English doesn’t have a good word for it
True, but you also do run into a “when you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail” problem, especially as investing in the military inevitably empowers people who absolutely would like a war to break out. Doubly so for countries with long histories of imperialism (cough cough France cough). It’s also not like Russia is a conventional military threat; if their performance in Ukraine is any indication present European militaries should be more than enough to wipe the floor with them. He’s also 100% true about military spending taking away funding from worthier causes, and while this isn’t caused by a lack of funds per se (if European countries wanted to they could always tax their ultra-rich) with rising austerity you do get a situation where money is being taken away from social welfare and put into the pockets of the defense industry. It’s not nearly that simple on either side, but there are plenty of valid reasons to oppose militarization. If European countries want to defend themselves they should give more money and weapons to Ukraine, or invest in renewables to cut down on Russian gas, or do any of the hundreds of things they could be doing before selling their souls to the military-industrial complex devil.
“you should just roll over and let yourself get conquered”
And it’s not like most EU-countries are truly hurting for money, they just refuse to tax their super rich.
Yup. I’m all in favor of militant pacifism (and taxing the rich). It’s crucial for maintaining peace in today’s world. Look dangerous, be dangerous, but only use this power to defend yourself and others from aggression.
I was on the fence about the new Pope until now, but fuck em. Fuck the pope. I’d rather have the old one back, again, because even though he had shifty ideals on Ukraine at least he was too crippled to run his mouth.
Doesn’t he have a private army despite his security being guaranteed by Italy?
I don’t think the Vatikan’s forces can really be called an “army”, they’re about large enough to quell a medium-sized riot.
No army, but personal guards (the famous Swiss guards), and a police force. But being in the centre of Italy’s capital, they don’t need one - Italy would need to be conquered first, which it won’t.
