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Percentage of Europeans Who Are Willing to Fight a War for Their Country

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Re: Percentage of Europeans Who Are Willing to Fight a War for Their Country

#171

Post by CalRobert »

draugadrotten wrote: post #39
capex wrote: post #25

Having spent 9 years in the military, I can say with some confidence that even soldiers are not willing to fight a war. War is evil. No one looks forward to it (except the generals). But when its thrust upon you, you rise up to the occasion and defend your motherland.

Some European countries, like Sweden, now have 25% of residents with a motherland which is not the country they live in. Would an Afhan boy living in Sweden fight for Sweden, or would he just take a flight back home to his real motherland? Would an American living in Germany fight for Germany, or take the next flight home? I think we all know the answer, and therefore large parts of the people living on European soil…

"I think we all know the answer"

Please enlighten us then. If you don't have data or personal experience to share, do you have anything of value to contribute?

Immigrants to nations have fought for their adopted homes with ferocity in the past. It make sense, really - this is somebody who liked (loved, even) the country so much that they worked hard to get there, as opposed to someone who happened to be born there and so is there by default.

Also, one complication to consider in your example of the American in Germany is that US citizens who join foreign militaries risk losing their US citizenship. Of course, for some people that's not a problem (there are a lot of accidental US citizens), but for others and their families it could pose an issue.

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal-considerati...

Re: Percentage of Europeans Who Are Willing to Fight a War for Their Country

#172

Post by EugeneAZ »

batushka wrote: post #159
apexalpha wrote: post #137

Is the question asked "Fight for your country" as in defend it from foreign invaders, like my country (NL) was during World War 2, or like Ukraine is now by Russia? Or is this "Fight for your country" as in join team America in invading Afghanistan and Iraq and ? Because the first one: probably, yes. The second? No thank you.

>Or is this "Fight for your country" as in join team America in invading Afghanistan and Iraq and ? >Because the first one: probably, yes. The second? No thank you. Typical NATO free rider. Do you have the word ALLY in your culture?

> Typical NATO free rider.

That would be funny, you know, if that were not that sad : ) Don't want to blame, but just a reminder - do you know on what terms Ukraine gave up its nuclear weapons?

Re: Percentage of Europeans Who Are Willing to Fight a War for Their Country

#173

Post by golergka »

nielsole wrote: post #147
kartan wrote: post #16

It looks like the closer you are to a thread, the most willing are you to fight. Being close to Russian is a good indicator on how much you are willing to go to war. So I agree with other comments, probably people that feels threatened read the question as "I'm willing to protect my country from an outside attacker". While people in "safer" places read it as "I'm willing to go to war with another country for some str…

You might think of Latvia as a counter argument (41%) but keep in mind that the threat is Russia and only 62% of the population is Latvian. It would be nice to know if they narrowed down what "their" country is (Russia or Latvia). Just because you live in a country doesn't mean you identify with it as "your" country. Assuming that Russians all said no (assuming Latvia was meant) this makes 66% of the Latvians willing…

In the current Ukranian-Russian conflict, there are a lot of ethnic Russians, speaking Russian, fighting on Ukranian side. While there are plenty of traditional ethnical and cultural conflicts around the world which had the chance to turn violent, the relationship between russian and ukranian people was never even close to this, and it's not the basis for the current conflict.

Re: Percentage of Europeans Who Are Willing to Fight a War for Their Country

#174

Post by EugeneAZ »

batushka wrote: post #169
yflu wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you go running into a burning building, you can't expect your allies to do the same. We might, but that's on our own volition, not out of any obligation.

Sure, just remember that it works both ways. When your house will burn and you'll be desperate, have a persuasive story ready.

Those anonyms may be just trolls payed by potential adversaries. It's HN. Divide et impera!

Re: Percentage of Europeans Who Are Willing to Fight a War for Their Country

#176

Post by wink »

German here as well. For one I (and probably many others as well) aren't expecting any war on German ground anytime soon (let's hope for the best).

But maybe "fighting a war for your country" implies quite a bit of patriotism. If there's ever been a country where concept of patriotism.. let's say slightly differs from other countries - yes, it's Germany.

Trying to write this as objective as possible: Big (compared other countries at least) parts of the population already wouldn't want to run around with a German flag. Some already see all the flags during football world cup season as "too patriotic".

I'm torn. I think I'd describe myself as very much not a patriot. I like living in Germany, looking at some things I'm even glad. But I don't see anything inherently good in German. I surely wouldn't object to being a "European citizen" with such a passport.

Re: Percentage of Europeans Who Are Willing to Fight a War for Their Country

#178

Post by vetinari »

arethuza wrote: post #158
aqsalose wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Finland participated in the WW2, moreover, also on the side that lost the war.

But at the start both France and the UK actually considered sending troops to assist Finland against the Soviets - this was when the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact was in place so the Soviets were effectively Nazi allies at that point.

Almost all European countries had Molotov-Ribbentrop-like pact with Germany, including UK and Poland. MR-pact was just the last one; made after UK and France sabotaged Molotov's effort to make pact with them and after the Austrian Anschluss and breaking of Czechoslovakia. They wanted Germany to attack the USSR and not to be bound to help, just like they looked the other way after Poland was attacked later that year.

Re: Percentage of Europeans Who Are Willing to Fight a War for Their Country

#179

Post by oblio »

batushka wrote: post #170
Belphemur wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An ally come to help when in needs. America wedged war for financial gain not for helping anybody. Why its ally would need to help when there is a no real need for the war in the first place.

Never heard of war that wasn't smeared by other side. When rooskies bombed Finland, Molotov told they're delivering bread baskets to starving Finns. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molotov_bread_basket

Nice trolling, I guess?

When there's a conflict, I generally look at the "weight" of the opponents. Can you, with a straight face, call Iraq a real opponent or even threat for the US? More than that, do you think the US really needed allies to invade Iraq? (except for trying to use them to legitimize the war).

Re: Percentage of Europeans Who Are Willing to Fight a War for Their Country

#180

Post by vetinari »

kofejnik wrote: post #109
bambax wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Germany is closer to Russia than France, and yet less "willing" to go to war. Japan with 11% is really amazing, and yet it's near real threats with China and North Korea. It would seem, countries who remember what war is actually like, would rather not fight; that would explain the results of Japan, Germany, France, Spain, the UK. The only exception is Russia, who suffered immensely during WW2 and yet would apparentl…

Russian TV has operated in patriotic imperial brainwashing mode for the past 15 years (and their culture in general - for the last 300 years), so no surprise here.

Russia has been invaded every 80-100 years for the last 1000 years. I have understanding for them, it is already some 75 years since the last one.
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