91–100 of 130 posts
Ukraine is about as black and white as it gets.
Amen. I used to be a pacifist before the Ukraine war. Now I feel like a completely different person.
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"Right, but the idea here seems to be to throw cold water on idea that Ukraine is unambiguously the victim of aggression here" Yes, that is Putins plan. That doesn't mean there isn't any truth in its propaganda. The point we are discussing is, if the war Ukraine vs Russia is "as black and white as it gets". To which I disagree, you can find quite some black elements in Ukraine, too. Not at all on the same level and I…
Russia is raping and slaughtering its way through a country that did not invade it, was not threatening its neighbors, whose primary crime was being too friendly with the West. Why does it matter whether all Ukrainian citizens are angels or devils?
Because people who are devils and who are officially allowed to have weapons and use them sometimes has bad side effects.
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"in general russians are seen as enemies" My wording was indeed bad, what I meant was there is a general trend towards doing that, not that the majority already does it. But the ukrainian Ultra Nationalist do. They are the black spot I am seeing. There are hardcore Nazis in my (german) home town - and they went to support their nationalistic comrades in Azow and co. They do not fight for democracy.
There are hardcore Nazis in my (german) home town - and they went to support their nationalistic comrades in Azow and co So you base your view of what's going on in Ukraine not from talking broadly to Ukrainians; not from an objective reading of history and news reports -- but on what the Nazis in your hometown are saying?
It is just a pretty strong indicator. And what people are saying does not matter so much to me, as what people are doing.
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The former President reportedly was ready to pull the U.S. from NATO in his second term, and has demonstrated a strong affinity toward the autocrats currently making life miserable for our allies, which has carried over to his entire party.
Leaving NATO is not "isolationism". And cutting ties with countries in NATO that repeatedly refuse to make the financial contributions towards defense that they pledged to make is also not "isolationism". NATO countries made a deal, part of that deal was 2% of GDP to defense, there are NATO countries that over and over have refused to keep their part of the deal, they promised to do something and year after year afte…
I agree, it's more than isolationism: it's sheer stupidity and the Hallmark of a compromised government official.
My was inspired to be inspired about joining the military because of how amazing Band of Brothers was and paratrooping is akin to flying. Thank you for sharing this so I can read it and see another perspective.
The stat sheets on how likely a soldier who survived D-Day was to make it to the end of the war alive and intact may be worth looking at. There’s individual heroism and that’s laudable, sure, but the war was a machine that used humans for fuel. Overall stats don’t look so bad but that’s because of how many folks it takes to support one front line soldier. If you were actually fighting your odds were… bad. Modern foot…
It was a wake up call for me. I mean, I have known this, but like, when you are younger you can't seem to grasp it even though elders tell you upfront and clear. However, the real shock for me was the cheering on Reddit etc accompanied with the videos. I didn't understand I had these people around me.
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Ye, but it was a long time ago. The point I am trying to make is that the opening is the 'low point' and then it becomes an action movie with the heroes in control.
This take is baffling... in SPR the protagonists lose man after man over the course of the movie, right up until the end. A central theme is the irony and tragedy of how the mission to rescue a single man costs so many lives.
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There are hardcore Nazis in my (german) home town - and they went to support their nationalistic comrades in Azow and co So you base your view of what's going on in Ukraine not from talking broadly to Ukrainians; not from an objective reading of history and news reports -- but on what the Nazis in your hometown are saying?
How do you conclude, I just use the Nazis as a point of reference? It is just a pretty strong indicator. And what people are saying does not matter so much to me, as what people are doing.
These people aren't a "pretty strong indicator" of anything. They definitely do not have an interesting or useful perspective as to what mainstream Ukrainian society thinks or is actually like.
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The former President reportedly was ready to pull the U.S. from NATO in his second term, and has demonstrated a strong affinity toward the autocrats currently making life miserable for our allies, which has carried over to his entire party.
you are confusing some words a former president said with actual events and material course of history. the US has been continuously directly or indirectly participating in wars for over 20 years at this point, while it directs the largest international military alliance in history and orchestrates the exclusion of its opponents from global financial markets. none of this is exclusive to any party; this is the logic…
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The former President reportedly was ready to pull the U.S. from NATO in his second term, and has demonstrated a strong affinity toward the autocrats currently making life miserable for our allies, which has carried over to his entire party.
The words of one president versus having active military bases all over the worlf.
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> A true to history version would be soldiers getting shrapnel wounds from indirect fire and being shot at by soldiers they can't see. Then they redo it somewhere else becouse someone said so. No offense intended, but did you really watch Saving Private Ryan? Both of those things you mention occurred within the first 60 seconds of the start of the beach scene.
Ye, but it was a long time ago. The point I am trying to make is that the opening is the 'low point' and then it becomes an action movie with the heroes in control.
To be quite candid, I did not appreciate the brutality of WW2 until I spent a few months a decade ago researching the progression of events from 1939 to 1945. I say this as someone who had a fairly decent exposure to WW2 (Gramps was a B29 bomber pilot). Even now, every time I do a little digging or reading about a certain WW2 event/battle/massacre, I am still left shocked by the absolute brutality that occurred on a large scale. Conflicts since WW2 have not approached the same level of killing intensity, thank god. Perhaps nuclear weapons are indeed proving to be the ultimate moderator of human conquest ambition.
Sorry for rambling a bit: Back to your quote about it being a hero action movie - in my opinion WW2 kinda was an action movie with many stories of heros who sacrificed themselves or risked their lives directly to save their buddies - on all sides. The reason we hear so many of these stories from that time period is due to the massive number of engagements and opportunities presented near daily for men to attempt extraordinary maneuvers (e.g. flank attacking an overwhelming force who has their squad pinned down).
Some of the stories you hear from WW2 are absolutely over the top insane (risky). You will never hear nearly as many "hero" stories these days in my opinion due to all professional militaries employing similar risk-mitigation strategies to avoid unnecessary losses. Times were different back then.