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

bbc.com

411–420 of 465 posts

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

#411
post #405

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

To add to what nicbou said, I would like to question the idea that the best way to defend a country is to enlist and fight a war. At the contrary, many are of the opinion that to defend Europe we have to oppose this recent trend of spending billions into the unproductive war machine. When was the last time germans lined up to enlist in the army? How much good was it for their country?

>At the contrary, many are of the opinion that to defend Europe we have to oppose this recent trend of spending billions into the unproductive war machine.

We've tried that after the end of the cold war, now there is an active war in Europe. You can not unilaterally stop military spending if there are other countries ready to take advantage of it.

>When was the last time germans lined up to enlist in the army?

That would have been during the height of the Cold War, the resulting Reunification does have its drawbacks, but certainly beats getting overrun by the Soviet Union.

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

#412
post #407

I think we are too quick to believe this move is motivated by the threat of Russia suddenly unleashing hordes of tanks over Europe, so here is some data. Let's compare Russia's forces with that of Germany+Poland+UK+France+Italy+Spain (EU countries with a large population): Total population: RU=140M, EU=370M Population available for mil: RU=70M, EU=170M Present active mil: RU=1.3M, EU=1M Reserve: RU=2M, EU=1.4M Parami…

> The most stringent ones seems to be that RU has a lot of fiul, gaz and coal and an industrial network spread accross a vast land that's not easy to target,

Very recent Ukrainian drone self-defences prove otherwise - far away russian refineries are not so far away anymore. And, are very difficult to defend. Throw in an additional few partisans to mess up the railway system (russian lifeline) and I rather suspect a coup to happen soon.

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

#414

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"gender is a social construct" only goes so far...

Gender is a social construct, biological sex is not. Confusingly, we use the same binary terms for both.

So there are some jobs that only a biological male can do, that a biological female is not qualified to do? If we made a list, which jobs do you think might be on it?

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

#415

> "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?

The idea is that it apparently doesn't matter who is the government, German or Russian, because these young men can't start normal lives anyway.

Why fight for a nation that is keen on giving away your taxes to random immigrants? Then forcing you to fight and die?

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

#416

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gender is a social construct, biological sex is not. Confusingly, we use the same binary terms for both.

So there are some jobs that only a biological male can do, that a biological female is not qualified to do? If we made a list, which jobs do you think might be on it?

[dead]

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

#417

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Wars are won on resolve, and mercenaries don't have any. The reason so many of these people fled to Europe in the first place was to avoid getting caught up in violence. They have zero reason to fight anything except the insistence that they fight. Also, this is racist as hell, why isn't it flagged to death yet?

Explain how it’s not just “racism” but also “as hell” “racial”. Is “as hell racism” like a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad, super special, makes you stomp your feet really hard, and you’ll hold your breath or else racism?

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

#418

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, that was sloppy of me. The Census website doesn’t display well on mobile, but I should have recognize the number was too high. Nevertheless, the article you’re citing still cites American personal income as pretty close to German median income. Subtract taxes and/or adjust for PPP and…

> Nevertheless, the article you’re citing still cites American personal income as pretty close to German median income. Do you realize how insane this statement is considering the wealth and economic power of America? And as cited above, cost of living is higher, quality of life is lower in the US too. Also why isn't the market correcting itself, hm? You had market deregulation under Clinton, super successful, wasn't…

You appear to be assuming I hold a whole plethora of views that have nothing to do with me. (Red scare?? Deregulation??)

I am fully informed about conditions in Germany. Perhaps you are not fully informed about conditions in America. Even us Americans in flyover states, even solidly working class Americans, even some people I know in trailer parks, have more conveniences and luxuries than the average German. Aside for my preferences for most German social norms, I would prefer to live in Mississippi than anywhere in Germany for the greater material comforts.

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

#419

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

[flagged]

Please don't engage in this kind of rhetoric on HN. We're here for curious conversation. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

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

#420
post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Germany already hosts nuclear weapons. And there were talks with France/UK to build the nuclear shield or something like that. It's just a matter of time before that happens, because as of today, that's the only way you can reason with dictators.

> Germany already hosts nuclear weapons So does Montana. That doesn’t give Helena any sovereignty points.

Their point was the Greens lacked the power you attributed to them I thought.
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