Germany votes to bring in voluntary military service programme for 18-year-olds

Post by fifilura » Sun, Dec 07, 2025, 6:17 AM UTC

klipklop wrote: post #91

wkat4242 wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my opinion pitting our youth against theirs man to man means we have already lost anyway. Lots of people that don't deserve it would have to die. We need to be able to destroy them at the push of a button so they don't even think about invading us. And then we don't need to order kids around to their deaths. In other words we need a nuclear umbrella. Now that America is no longer our friend we need to build our ow…

This is not how reality works at all. Nuclear war is a last resort, not a first response to a ground invasion. Ground troops are essential for defense, even in the era of nukes and drones.

Post by fifilura » Sun, Dec 07, 2025, 6:18 AM UTC

frmersdog wrote: post #80

appreciatorBus wrote: post #17

> "We don't want to spend half a year of our lives locked up in barracks, being trained in drill and obedience and learning to kill," the organisers of the protests wrote in a statement posted on social media. "War offers no prospects for the future and destroys our livelihoods." Is the idea that it’s better for your livelihood to just start learning how speak Russian now?

History shows that the best way to resist, in these circumstances, might be to let them in, and then blow them up in the streets and countryside until they leave. It's cheaper and (morbidly enough) probably has a lower human cost.

Post by qball » Sun, Dec 07, 2025, 6:29 AM UTC

baal80spam wrote: post #16

mystraline wrote: post #10

The article is using "voluntary" in a very questionable fashion. > Germany's parliament, the Bundestag, has voted to introduce voluntary military service... > The form will be mandatory for men and voluntary for women. > The government says military service will be voluntary for as long as possible, but from July 2027, all 18-year-old men will have to take a medical exam to assess their fitness for possible military…

> The form will be mandatory for men and voluntary for women. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_men_are_created_equal

Post by LexiMax » Sun, Dec 07, 2025, 6:32 AM UTC

anonym29 wrote: post #89

geoka9 wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course, it's just a question of Ukraine knowing what's good for it (and the poor Russians) and folding so that all of the dying stops! Nice one, аноним29; I hope you made your day's quota!

You must have missed my comment about opposing the war. But this kind of bad faith accusation is really disappointing to see on HN. The caliber of discourse here is usually much higher - people engaging with the actual merits of the points being raised, not reverting to attacking strawmen that only exist in their head as if this was Facebook. Ordinary Russian and Ukranian people are both victims of this war. It is be…

Post by fifilura » Sun, Dec 07, 2025, 6:40 AM UTC

venturecruelty wrote: post #37

appreciatorBus wrote: post #17

> "We don't want to spend half a year of our lives locked up in barracks, being trained in drill and obedience and learning to kill," the organisers of the protests wrote in a statement posted on social media. "War offers no prospects for the future and destroys our livelihoods." Is the idea that it’s better for your livelihood to just start learning how speak Russian now?

I think a lot of young people look at all of the wars waged post-WWII and are rightfully opposed to fighting for their governments. Would you want to die for nothing in Vietnam? Probably not, and a lot of other people didn't want to as well. Some of them did anyway, and it was all for nothing. So please have some grace if today's kids have looked back at our miserable history and have decided that they'd rather not d…