German men 18-45 need military permit for extended stays abroad • Hacker News Board

Re: German men 18-45 need military permit for extended stays abroad

#531

Post by PuppetSoup » Sat, Apr 04, 2026, 9:11 PM UTC

tsoukase wrote: post #520

I still cannot understand why and what we are fighting for. Setting aside the wars of the previous decades, Russia was a long term ally with Ukraine, much like the USA and Canada and then out of nowhere they are in a "soft war". Also, after 50 years of the Islamic regime in Iran, we should engage in another soft war, again because of ill defined reasons. The soft is in contrast to regular war which locks down the who…

What is this propaganda.

> Russia was a long term ally with Ukraine, much like the USA and Canada and then out of nowhere they are in a "soft war"

First off the history between Ukraine and Russia is nothing like between USA and Canada. Russia killed millions of Ukrainians in 30's by starvation, known as "Holodomor".

Secondly Ukraine voted for independence immediately after Soviet Union collapsed.

Most egregious claim is the "soft war" one. Russia attacked to Ukraine in 2014 and started full scale war in 2022 that has led to close to two million casualties. What the f*ck is "hard war" if this is "soft war"?

Re: German men 18-45 need military permit for extended stays abroad

#532

Post by sva_ » Sat, Apr 04, 2026, 9:12 PM UTC

Galanwe wrote: post #106

I don't think there is any moat here, most European countries have these kind of "deprecated" laws, that are not enforced and just stay there because it's too much of a hassle to remove. In France, I think there are still laws forbidding women to wear jeans, and requiring permission of the husband to work. Still in the text of law, but obviously non enforceable.

This is not a deprecated law but rather was changed towards its current form on January 1st of this year

Re: German men 18-45 need military permit for extended stays abroad

#533

Post by vasac » Sat, Apr 04, 2026, 9:14 PM UTC

dogemaster2026 wrote: post #479

vasac wrote: post #474

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So while many of the reasons are questionable (understatement of the year), let’s focus on the last one. After America lost the war in Vietnam, what happened to those neighboring nations? Did they suffer from Vietnamese communists? The only Vietnamese intervention was in Cambodia, and hardly anyone thinks that wasn’t the right thing to do.

The OP said it was not for “defence.” I am arguing the reasons were for the defense of American interests. That is objectively true.

The OP probably thought of defense in the narrow sense as "the action of defending against or resisting an attack", and not in the broader sense defined as "we’re going to travel halfway around the world to kill a million people because that’s who we are". A common mistake.

Re: German men 18-45 need military permit for extended stays abroad

#534

Post by grumbelbart » Sat, Apr 04, 2026, 9:14 PM UTC

einpoklum wrote: post #490

Longhanks wrote: post #484

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, really not trying to frame this in any way, but asylum seekers do it all the time.

Ok, fair enough, but if I were German - I don't really think I would asylum anywhere on the basis of Germany maybe intending to conscript me in the future.

I'm reasonably sure Russia would take you.

Re: German men 18-45 need military permit for extended stays abroad

#535

Post by mytailorisrich » Sat, Apr 04, 2026, 9:15 PM UTC

tsoukase wrote: post #520

I still cannot understand why and what we are fighting for. Setting aside the wars of the previous decades, Russia was a long term ally with Ukraine, much like the USA and Canada and then out of nowhere they are in a "soft war". Also, after 50 years of the Islamic regime in Iran, we should engage in another soft war, again because of ill defined reasons. The soft is in contrast to regular war which locks down the who…

Nothing that is an actual serious threat. Overall, my (cynical) interpretation is that the aim is to handle military matters at EU level (nail in the coffin of national sovereignty in Europe) and to become more of a credible military power. Both of which require a narrative to get public consent and a foreign threat is a proven, effective narrative.

Re: German men 18-45 need military permit for extended stays abroad

#536

Post by Mikhail_Edoshin » Sat, Apr 04, 2026, 9:16 PM UTC

sesqu wrote: post #472

cedws wrote: post #402

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's objectively worse on the Ukrainian side. Imagine you haven't been able to leave your house in 4 years for fear you'll be grabbed by a draft officer. Russians do not know this fear. To boot, many Russian men have been paid handsomely for their participation in the SMO and get to live nice lives abroad.

Did you just forget about the mobilization drive Russia had in 2022, where they grabbed young men off streets and from their houses? It was very unpopular, lead to people fleeing the country, and was pushed out of the public eye as soon as they figured out how to forcefully volunteer people instead.

Nobody grabbed anyone. It was an unusual, but otherwise a normal bureaucratic process. Got handed a paper, signed, have to appear. Many probably didn't have plans to go voluntarily, but felt it unmanly to dodge. I was at one of such sites and saw a man who got there too drunk and was handed over to the police; he was very disappointed he is not allowed go with the fellas.

It wasn't hard to dodge; you could just refuse to take the papers pretending it's not you or get sick the very day or something like that. The system had a number and once it was reached (very quickly) no further action was necessary. The only change so far us that the employers started to follow their military tracking procedure to the letter; before that it was required but not really enforced, but now all the paperwork gets done by the book.

Some people indeed left the country but those are the kind you don't want to have your back anyway.

Forceful volunteering is pure imagination. At most it's intensive persuasion or a new way to get out of jail, but if you don't want to go, nobody will force you.

Re: German men 18-45 need military permit for extended stays abroad

#537

Post by samus » Sat, Apr 04, 2026, 9:17 PM UTC

mr_toad wrote: post #519

TheOtherHobbes wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

NATO has days/weeks of ammunition, so it's woefully under-resourced. NATO doctrine is basically air superiority against any invading force, with the ability to wreak destruction far behind the front lines. Conveniently the Iran war has depleted stockpiles of almost everything. The reality is NATO is vulnerable on two fronts. The first is that NATO has no defences against the kind of drone and missile waves Russia has…

> If France stops being a deterrent Russia would be able to nuke Brussels - and perhaps a few other capitals to make the point - and likely force immediate surrender. Ukraine isn’t under anyone’s nuclear umbrella, but Russia hasn’t done more than threaten to use nuclear weapons in that war. Probably because it’s not at all clear that it would actually force a surrender.

Russia likely also still remember the aftermath of Chernobyl; a nuclear strike so close to their home would hopefully be seen as something to avoid at all costs. On a similar note, Ukraine also still has a few bandages it could take off in the event of a nuclear strike, like an all-out strike on Russian nuclear power plants. Those are undoubtedly well-defended, but there are a lot of them and they only need to succeed in causing fallback to leak from one.

Re: German men 18-45 need military permit for extended stays abroad

#538

Post by em-bee » Sat, Apr 04, 2026, 9:18 PM UTC

mr_toad wrote: post #497

braabe wrote: post #297

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it varies. I suspect in most common cases the lack of enforcement results from the rest of society not having an appetite to punish it. No harm done, no need to punish. I believe jaywalking (or crossing a red light as a pedestrian) is prohibited, but you would have to do it in front of a really motivated cop (or cause an accident) to actually get a ticket for it. It is common and no one really cares - but if…

Jaywalking is illegal is many jurisdictions, partly for pedestrians own safety, but also partly to shift the blame if a pedestrian is involved in an accident. So it’s mostly seen as a crime where people only hurt themselves.

jaywalking is illegal because the term jaywalking defines the illegal crossing of a street. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaywalking

legal jaywalking is by definition not possible. what is however possible and legal is crossing the street away from a marked crossing. at least in europe and in most places in the world except the united states.

Re: German men 18-45 need military permit for extended stays abroad

#539

Post by aregue » Sat, Apr 04, 2026, 9:22 PM UTC

sixhobbits wrote: post #500

Longhanks wrote: post #469

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whilst I agree, to be fair, a passport is usually only needed when entering a country, not leaving one, right? Under the cited rule, the US needs to allow you to leave , not help you in entering some other country.

It is quite difficult to leave a country without simultaneously entering another

It is trivial for any country that is not land-locked. You just have to sail to international waters. What is difficult is to stay there.

Re: German men 18-45 need military permit for extended stays abroad

#540

Post by samus » Sat, Apr 04, 2026, 9:25 PM UTC

randomNumber7 wrote: post #440

logicchains wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Fuck you got mine" is the attitude of the boomers expecting young people to die for a country that the boomers left economically and demographically ruined. Young Germans have the worst life prospects of any generation in the past fifty years.

But if you look at serious polls then not many young people will actually fight for this. I remember reading a number of around 15%... And those probably don't have a high IQ.

That's a generation of people who had to never suffer the prospect of invasion and occupation of German soil by hostile armed forces. Even so, this number of willing recruits would already be much more than the Bundeswehr can possibly arm, and are unneeded as long as there is no military altercation actively involving Germany.