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

bbc.com

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

#241

Post by flohofwoe »

jasonvorhe wrote: post #200
hkpack wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You see, millions are already killed in the biggest war in Europe since WW2 and it looks like this is just the prelude. Russia is threatening to fight Europe as of yesterday, continue to increase weapon production and militarisation. It is obvious that it just cannot stop as its economy and social order is switching more and more to the war-time. China backs russia up and officially declaring that it cannot allow Rus…

You misunderstand. I'm not against reporting about Russia. The oversimplification of reducing everything down to "Putin this, Putin that" is my issue. Imagine me saying everything the EU is doing is explicitly because of Ursel. It's stupid, ignorant and reminds me of Trump Derangement Syndrome which had a similar effect on reporting about US issues. I live in Germany so I'm fucked either way. I'm also aware of NATO e…

> I live in Germany so I'm fucked either way.

Honest question: why don't you emigrate to Russia since you seem to admire it so much? They are specifically looking for people who 'share Russian values', and Germany is on the 'white list' - so acquiring citizenship should be really easy and you don't need to live in a country you apparently seem to hate.

Here's how it works:

https://russianresidency.com/

https://mid.ru/upload/medialibrary/aef/94mfg4ehws6kav1nk8bts...

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

#242

Post by C6JEsQeQa5fCjE »

wkat4242 wrote: post #65
venturecruelty wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Exactly. Even after Vietnam, in this century. Iraq war 2 was all false pretenses. And the resulting power vacuum created ISIS. Afghanistan accomplished absolutely nothing, things are back to the way it was and all the deaths were for nothing. The only fairly recent war that the west was involved in that was slightly justified was the first gulf war. But even that wasn't really any of America's business. It wasn't tha…

> and all the deaths were for nothing

Deaths and destruction in wars against significantly weaker countries are never for nothing, as certain well-connected people always get filthy rich, regardless of the end result. The ones who make the decisions, they always get their share, whether through the war hardware industry, mercenary business, the reconstruction industry, the resource exploitation industry, or something else. The wider population might end up worse off and poorer, but who has ever asked them about anything when there is so much money to be made by their ''democratic representatives'' if they play along?

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

#243

Post by consumer451 »

aleph_minus_one wrote: post #38
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?

[flagged]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBG3Gdt5OGs

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

#245

Post by speedbird »

nicbou wrote: post #151
sunshine-o wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes and the question is who does the German state really target to enroll in their "new" army. Because "This generation" has a lot of clearly distinct groups. So it could be: - the native young population who are now flocking in the AfD - the people fighting the AfD in the street - the second generation immigrants born there - the very recent immigrants - a mix of all Because the alchemy of creating a working army an…

I'm in the "recent" immigrants group. I qualify for citizenship since a few years, but this Wehrpflicht nonsense is why I haven't sent my application yet. I don't think that the social situation is as bad as you describe. I just think that people generally don't feel keen to put their life on the line for Germany.

I think if you want the benefits of living in a country then you should be willing to defend it. This attitude of entitlement without responsibility is exactly what gives migrants a bad name.

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

#246

Post by poisonborz »

squigz wrote: post #192

So many comments and sentiments in this thread are really not worthy of HN.

What is the HN ethos anyway? The "common thought" and average HNer was different in 2007, 2015, 2025, and will be again rather different in 2035.

One could say the "hacker ethics", love of freedom, tinkering goes beyond time, but this falls apart at any topic beyond that.

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

#247

Post by ashoeafoot »

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?

[dead]

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

#250

Post by consumer451 »

nickdothutton wrote: post #248

Europe in general, most countries, are being shaken awake from a long slumber by a number of recent and current events.

Agreed. This is a rational response to the USA's protective umbrella being discarded, and the end of NATO. Europe became far too complacent, and the change is going to be quite uncomfortable at the very least.

Again, this is a very rational response and I applaud the German government for being realistic.

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