but they do. And now it is just a game of brinksmanshit

There's no contradiction here. The US military exists to preserve and extend capitalism. Taking care of veterans would be socialist. Being abandoned by the state, as soon as you no longer serve a purpose for generating profit, is the best way to say thank you. It shows that everything you fought for is successful and working better than ever!

I'm sorry you were forced into that, but I have mad respect for you helping the elderly instead of joining the military.

Thank you very much for saying that, but in hindsight it was actually a great life experience. I met a man who was 103 at the time, in 1997. So he was 21 years old when WWI broke out. He later joined the German socialist party SPD, he resisted the Nazis and was forced to emigrate, he had such amazing stories to tell.

I think he played a big part in why I became interested in politics, German history and also why I became an antifascist and anti-militarist. Him and the fact that the Nazis executed one of my two grandfathers for "defaitism".

No consequences from the Epstein-class or their puppet politicians, but there could be consequences from people like you and me if we organize a revolution.

First time I open Lemmy and save a post so quickly.

That's amazing, thank you for sharing that

Born too late to die in the middle east.
Born too early to die in the middle east.
Born just in time to die in the middle east.

that's a big if

except if it's an electronic clock

but think of the stock market!

ironically the countries with more natural resources typically have lower quality of life. this is known as the resource curse phenomenon.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resource_curse

because we wouldn't have the internet. the US military contributed significantly to the development of today's internet.

Would we have the Autobahn if Hitler hadn't built it?

Update:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/platner-sat-lengthy-interview-antisemitic-075439570.html

Platner sat for lengthy interview with antisemitic conspiracy theorist, said he was ‘longtime fan’ of his show

Matthew Kassel
Fri, February 27, 2026 at 11:54 PM PST
4 min read

This is what I look like when listening to the new Gorillaz album.

probably with some time delay, the germans love a good race (/s)

apart from that, the military did some significant research into a lot of technology, including airplanes (and rockets), internet, nuclear energy.

Except if THAT is a 12 o'clock flasher, in which case it is correct about 30 times each day.

At least 153 girls in the first attack.

. "Being alive makes you a war enabler. Just fucking kill yourself."

This guy, apparently

Drug dealers and mobsters are often in it because that's their viable option for social mobility. Therefore I will give soldiers the same respect owed to drug dealers and mobsters. All accept the reality of maybe having murder innocents for some rich jackasses too.

My dude. That's why we have to organize. No one said it would be easy.

Sure, so let's start organizing now and make that "if" smaller.

You failed to get the point I was making. Just because the military is a driving factor to technological progress, doesn't mean it's a good thing all of a sudden. And all that progress could also have been made by science. Wernher von Braun didn't care who funded his research into rockets.

American soldiers are scum.

The media will hype "the troops" while ignoring the fact that "the troops" are being killed for oil, to make billionaires richer.

What kind of fantasy world are you living in?

Good point. But let me ask you this:

Without a military or nuclear weapons, what is preventing other countries from taking advantage at the first chance they get?

Criticize the U.S. all you want. But the country is full of valuable resources that other countries want. Take away the U.S.'s ability to defend themselves and the risk of foreign nations taking advantage will spike dramatically. Nukes are basically the ultimate "don't even think about it" sign.

Just my opinion but I feel this right here is the real reason they are pushing so hard on AI advancement and online identity verification, along with the general dislike for privacy preserving communication tools (which they'll come for next along with the rest of open source technology). Can't build momentum if they know everything you do.

Meanwhile, the suckers and loose...err soldiers get the healthcare and support that they deny the average citizen.

Stop soldiering and they take it away.

Hm, the percent of drug dealers and mobsters that don't have an active combat like role is very very low. But the military has people like doctors and nurses among other very much non combat roles. So it isn't really a fair comparison.
And some people join the military to avoid becoming a drug dealer or mobster. It's a step up, mostly because it is legal. And for some, they do one tour and then become productive members of society. That happens far less with drug dealers and mobsters. So at least give them the respect for choosing not to become a drug dealer or mobster.

Well, as you say. If you don't pay your taxes, they will put you in jail. So you do have the free will to choose. You could of course also move to a country with a less interventionist military so that your taxes aren't paying for it. In the US, kids from poor neighborhoods have very few job options. We don't have good public transit, so they can only go so far for a job. Moving is usually out of the question expensewise because they are living with their parents already.
For many who end up in combat roles, it is often a choice between making a living via crime or the military. At least with the military they have a decent chance to become a productive citizen after a few years. So it is the better of two bad options.
Others are just not too bright. They have no idea how the military is used. They just hear the words of a sweet talking recruiter telling them how good a person they will be for signing up. It's hard to blame them for being dumb.

I am not saying noone in the military is a bad person. But I am saying that not all are. The US military has like a 50% resign rate. You could say the ones that sign up for a second tour are choosing of thier own free will, with thier eyes open. That I will agree to.

Very much so. So ewhere there is a balance of having enough to be a stable country, but not so much to draw attention. But it's a very small point to balance on.

Correct. If there is one, then others have to exist to balance them out. Only with none can we all exist without militaries. And that really should be a goal.

The "resource curse" is just people trying to pretend imperialism isn't responsible. Norway has plenty of oil and they have a high quality of life, because nobody invaded them.

Plenty of these countries had leaders who wanted to use their resources to help the people, but the powers that be, most often the US, didn't want that. And so for example Mohammed Mossadegh of Iran, a peaceful, democratically elected progressive, was overthrown by the CIA, and he was replaced by a monarch who could be easily bribed and would use the oil to enrich himself. And when that monarch caved to domestic pressure and participated in an oil embargo, US support was withdrawn and he was overthrown and the current government came to power.

There's no "mystery" or "curse." It's just imperialism. The story generally goes that these resources were stolen by force during colonialism and remained in foreign hands after independence and the country still functions as a neocolony, leading to poverty and exploitation, or war and instability if they challenge it.

It is completely fair to to your weazel words that amount to: MY LIFE IS THE MOST IMPORTANT IN THE WORLD AND I WILL EVEN KILL INNOCENTS WITHOUT HESITATION, NOT TO PRESERVE IT BUT JUST TO IMPROVE IT SOMEWHAT. That is what they all signed up for, many soldiers proudly.

Also mobs have a high amount of support personnel too and their master's goals necessitate far less of slaughter of innocent civilians.

it's worse that that: a sizeable percentage of the troops know that they're killing innocent people, but doing it anyways because of orders.

some try to make up for it after committing those monstrous acts, but i doubt that's possible since their voices are just as muted as any leftist.

Yeah i'm sure it's a curse, and not centuries of colonialism, imperialism, uneven trade etc etc.

The Third World is not poor. You don't go to poor countries to make money. There are very few poor countries in this world. Most countries are rich! The Philippines are rich! Brazil is rich! Mexico is rich! Chile is rich—only the people are poor. But there's billions to be made there, to be carved out, and to be taken—there's been billions for 400 years! The Capitalist European and North American powers have carved out and taken the timber, the flax, the hemp, the cocoa, the rum, the tin, the copper, the iron, the rubber, the bauxite, the slaves, and the cheap labour. They have taken out of these countries—these countries are not underdeveloped—they're overexploited!

-Michael Parenti

According to the asswipe Krasnov, the 3 US soldiers that died yesterday were " a great deal for the rest of the world." Fuck him and his illegal war.

w-what if those foreigners do to us what we do to them

Your conscience is projecting

fuck your war criminals

sorry full of valuable resources? what, corn? dataservers? pedophiles?

the U.S. is not some piggy bank waiting to be cracked. Realistically, the current US military exists to defend America from all the nations it's pissed off by invading them in the past. It's a self-fullfilling system.

"I had to join this gang that kills 160 in a girls schools on the first day of our unprovoked war because I really wanted to go to university"
This is what I want to hear in my imaginary court so I can have a laugh while sentencing this fucker to his deserved hanging.

I prefer that even more

the U.S.'s ability to defend themselves

If you have nukes and are the only sick fucks ever top use it why do you need to 'defend' yourself everywhere in the world unprovoked.
get fucked with your BS. You're parroting regime propaganda.
Even they at least became less hypocritical in naming it the Dep of War, not defense.
Maybe follow that lead if you want to be a little warcriminal imperialist bootlicker.

Every fucking day there's some fucker online that makes me despise that cancer country even more.
Absolute scum of the earth

I never specifically said "joining US military is bad", I said joining the military in general is a bad thing. And neither did I talk about nukes, which are the ultimate evil.

I also never demanded to remove the military capabilities of one country, leaving it open for other countries to attack. I never talked about these things, about balance of power, about mutually assured destruction and all these geostrategic aspects of military logic.

All I said was - if you are a person who joins your country's military, I despise you. Period. This is a statement I made completely disregarding all these other aspects you mention, and it is completely logically valid on its own.

Wow, your hands sure were busy shoving words in my mouth. Too bad you didn't try to make any logical points. Guess you just don't have any. And no, mobs don't have anywhere near the percent of support personal that the military has.