On one hand, I absolutely agree with this. It’s human nature to want to avoid such a fate if one can reasonably avoid it. If I had the money and could buy my way out of participation in a fucking war…I’d hate to think that I wouldn’t.
I know it’s their home and things like that…but not everyone cares about those sorts of ties, and they become even less meaningful in death. I’m not saying I condone their actions, just that I understand.
Ultimately human conflict is meaningless and there’s a non zero chance that you’ll be immortal if you survive the next ten years.
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Well, “I understand” doesn’t mean much here, now does it?!
I understand how many people who are unable to feel the pain of others, including the pain that they cause to others, such as Sociopaths, Psychopaths, Narcissists and so on will, if they think they can get away with it, not at all refrain from causing huge suffering to countless other people if they themselves come out of it better.
And it’s all irrelevant: whilst it’s psychologically easier for them to cause suffering to others (as they feel no guilt) as individuals with agency they’re still the ones who choose to or not-to cause suffering to others: if they act thus they should be punished, if they don’t they should not.
The only thing the “understanding” brings is putting such people higher up the list for surveillance and as suspect when it comes to detecting and punishing the harming of others than people who psychologically find it a lot harder act so because, unlike this group, they feel guilt.
If it’s a crime, do not fire them, lock them up in pris-
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the actions “treason” and has initiated criminal proceedings.
Oh. Oh well.
Also, one of the main reasons the Russian army has been underperforming is corruption. Loads of money siphoned, incompetent people getting positions, you name it. Zelenskyy is also making sure the same doesn’t happen in his country and stays on top performance/efficiency wise.
Zelenskyy will go down in history with the likes of all great leaders. The man has risen to legendary status. Once this war is won and Ukraine is free, I hope he gets that much deserved beer and beach vacation.
Slava Ukraina
I can only agree with every single word, but I think he should go the Churchill way, and just find some peaceful and relaxing job once the whole thing is over (I know, Churchill actually stayed around for a while). For one: because he will definitely deserve it; but for two: looking at history (not excluding my own country’s), too many great politicians have fallen into the “…or you live long enough to become the villain” category. I’m rooting hard for Zelenskyy to at least get a draw and not go mad later.
He has said a few times that after the war he’ll retire from politics.
Considering his abysmal approval rating before the war and his huge popularity during it, I think he’ll take the “amazing wartime president” label and happily walk away afterwards.
If history has shown us anything, the politicians you need in wartime and peacetime need very different skillsets.
I love that the guy now being a hardass leader saving his country from a powerful invading force is there because he got famous playing the piano with his penis. What a career path! (Also, watch that video because it’s really funny.)
I think it’s far more likely that, over time, we find out he was pocketing a huge chunk of the wartime aid we US taxpayers are graciously going into further debt in order to fund, like Hamid Karzai and Saddam Hussein, themselves once also darlings of the US war machine.
Ah yes because the money we give them is definitely more than a tiny drop in the lake which is the US military spending.
The key words there are ‘US military spending’.
Canada spends approximately 26 billion a year on their national defense.
The US spends over a trillion, and Congress has approved around 113 billion (and that was way back in March) for Ukraine. That is, by any measure, not a drop in the bucket. It’s unreasonable to argue that all 50 states wouldn’t benefit more from having those funds distributed at the state level. Hawaii in particular comes to mind right now.
the Russian army has been underperforming is corruption
Check under the hood of any army and you’re going to find all sorts of corruption, graft, and kickbacks. War Is A Racket.
Well, in my limited knowledge and general thoughts about it being treason, I agree with what he’s saying as it doesn’t come off as these recruiters are trying to be compassionate and save citizens to become soldiers.
Sounds like profiteering favoritism to keep rich and prominent men and women from serving.
This doesn’t strike me as 16 year old Billy is getting handed a bayonet and told to die for oil.
Bottom line, against or for the war, people getting rich by saving the rich is a pretty shitty way to do your profiteering.
Bruh what’s wrong with this comment section
People who apparently think just lying down and dying is the best option when facing an invading country killing civilians en-mass. I have a feeling their opinion would be different it was their family being killed by invaders, if it was their country facing complete destruction.
Or, more accurately, people who think they shouldn’t be forced to fight in a war. People have their own reasons for fighting or not fighting and it’s ridiculous to think you can demand others fight for you. Go volunteer for Ukraine if you feel so strongly about it, they could use the fighters.
His family is not in danger.
Neither are the people who picked up with their family and left.
If you feel that strongly about it, go fight it yourself.
It’s easy to say “you need to fight for your country no matter what you want” when you are at your home in a phone talking in Lemmy
Don’t know about you, but I think bribery should be an act of treasen whether at war or at peace.
Treason is a really powerful crime that carries heavy consequences. Bribery at peace should still carry consequences but in some cases (countries) treason alone carries a death penalty. Bribery during peace maybe shouldn’t carry such a steep penalty
Agreed, equating them is just penalty inflation.
A more productive focus would be:
- that those who have been shown to accept bribes are actually removed from their position prosecuted successfully.
- Transparent governance with independent watchdogs so that corruption is harder to hide.
Alt-righters calling Zelenskyy corrupt and so on all day long. Look how stressed his face looks. He’s aged like 30 years since the war started.
Sure is.
accepting bribes is bad actually
being sent to war against your will is bad actually
I’m sorry but invasions are a justifiable reason to impose a draft.
No, you’re wrong. Conscription is always wrong. If fighting is justified you won’t need to do it.
Cool so I can come in to your house and steal all your shit, beat up your children, and shoot your dog, and you aren’t allowed to fight back because if it was justified, you wouldn’t need to?
EDIT: I seem to have misinterpreted the comment, as you appear to be referring to conscription being unnecessary rather than the fighting. Taking the whole context of the comment supports that, but taking only the context of the final sentence makes it appear that you are saying “if fighting is justified you dont need to fight” rather than “if fighting is justified, conscription is unnecessary”
they mean ‘it’ as in conscription, thwyre saying if the fight was worth it you wouldnt need to conscript
Correct, thanks. I guess I could’ve phrased it better but it was worth it for that dudes completely unhinged reply.
Draft is slavery
In a situation where losing means you lose everything… It’s a small price to pay.
losing means you lose everything
Conscripting a guy to go to war on your behalf, watching them die in your defense, and then breathing a sigh of relief because at least you didn’t lose anything.
Apple is truck.
See? I can also spew nonsense.
Words do mean things. Conscription is involuntary labor. Slavery is… involuntary labor. A=A.
It infuriates me that more people aren’t talking about how sexist it is that Ukraine only drafted its men. I can understand instituting a draft when your country is literally being invaded, but it should apply to all able-bodied citizens, not just men.
There is a point in the fact that men are biologically more suited to fight than women. Also no one is preventing a woman to join the military.
In the end it just sucks, no one should ever have to be drafted.
I thought treason was just an excuse for the winners to hang the losers.
No, teason is aiding the enemy in times of war.
A real crime here is the draft. And before the tankies start circling this post, it applies to russia as well.
I usually dislike picking hairs of evil when the alternative solution was getting annexed back into a cultural meat grinder
Downvotes for a comment pointing out that forcing people to fight and die is fucked up? Okay, people…
A lot of keyboard warriors that like to belive they would gladly fight and die for the glory of their country if the time came, but are so far removed from the realities of war, that when they think of war they think of movies and video games, not watching your freinds get blown into chunks by an artillery shell or rocket while you’re making an MRE in your trench.
Calling it a crime is fucked up. Especially in a thread where actual crime (taking bribes) is discussed.
You can’t seriously be equating the moral shortcomings of taking a bribe to the complete immorality of imposing a draft on others and forcing them to march towards near certain death
I definitely can. It would be a completely different topic in russia where they draft people to sustain occupation. If Ukraine stopped defending now, you’d have Buchas and Mariupols all over Ukraine with many dead. So I don’t really see it as immoral as much as it sucks for everyone involved.
Compared to that, taking bribes from desperate people is next level fucked up and it’s effectively profiteering on genocide.
Dude, Ukraine was invaded. The last time the US has had to use a draft for circumstances like this was the Civil War, and everyone now thinks it was warranted then.
The last time the US has had to use a draft for circumstances like this was the Civil War
Didn’t teach history in your school?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conscription_in_the_United_States
You missed the “for circumstances like this” part. There were certainly other uses of the draft for other circumstances that are looked at poorly.
WWI and WWII didn’t have a direct US invasion, and we’re also looked at positively, but is out of the scope of the discussion.
You won’t find a single country on this planet that wouldn’t draft their citizens in a wartime situation while you’re running out of soldiers. Not a single one.
And it would still be fucked up in every single one of those countries.
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BATTLE-POPE, INITIATE COMBAT SEQUENCE.
FREEDOM FROM YOUR SINS IS NON NEGOTIABLE
Costa Rica doesn’t have an army
You won’t also find a single country on this planet that isn’t rooted on violence and that isn’t ruled by corrupted politicians
Running out of soldiers? I thought the Russians were a bunch of morons who can’t do anything and the Ukrainians were beating their asses in their sleep? Why would they need more soldiers?
Pretty sure only you thought that
Guess you weren’t paying attention to all the posts laughing about how the Russian military is so incompetent.
Regular draft is unacceptable. But this is not a regular draft.
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The guy that was offered by the US to be extracted at the start of the war, but instead chose remain in the war with his people, that guy? He’s looking for bribes??
The amount of stupid you have to be, to post something this brainless boggles the mind.
You actually fell for that PR stunt? The Afghanistan government installed by the US was also very brave up until the US withdrew and they ran away shitting their pants. Zelenskyy knows he’s in absolutely no danger at all while under the full protection of the US and the rest of the west.
Add another obvious troll to the ban pile
You really live in your own reality huh?
