Skip Navigation
136 comments

  • "Long-term most of the funding actually goes to the VA"

    • Dumb opinions about a heavily propagandize war an ocean away is one thing.

      But this? this is the kind of delusion that calls everything else you say into question

      • People aay the strangest things to justify our military spending.

        I remember once someone responded to the budget increase by saying that "they need to pay the troops, their was a raise for them in the budget." Do they believe even 1 of those 800+ billions annually goes to paying da troops? A lot of military families are on SNAP, they pay them shit. You could give them a raise and still not scratch the defense budget

      • It's not an opinion that providing weapons is cheaper than providing soldiers. And it's certainly not an opinion about the merits of being involved in the first place.

        Factually, if you're going to be involved, weapons are cheaper than boots. That's it. I don't like being involved at all.

    • There was a citation in the original post. The screenshot cut it off.

      The total cost of the US post-9/11 wars is $8 trillion by 2050, approximately 1/3 of which will go to veteran care and the majority of which has not yet been paid.

      Yes, 1/3 by 2050 is not most. My bad.

      Yes, it will continue to rise after 2050.

      The statement that funding another country's military is cheaper than putting boots on the ground isn't a hot take or even a position. It is objectively true.

      I don't like war. I'm not cheering for war. I don't endorse the parent post's take about it being a proxy war (have you never contributed to a conversation while simultaneously suppressing the urge to ackchyually the other person?). And I do hope that humanitarian assistance is provided down the line by the parties involved.

      Call it a proxy war, or don't. It doesn't make any difference to me what people want to label it. That doesn't change the objective truth about the cost difference. Either way, I would love more of my tax dollars to be steered away from war and toward the problems in my own country.

      • The screenshot did not cut it off. You added it later in an edit.

      • The statement that funding another country's military is cheaper than putting boots on the ground isn't a hot take or even a position. It is objectively true.

        No one here is arguing about the accounting (aside from doubting that most of it is going to the VA). Of course its cheaper! Its also a disgusting and ghoulish thing to endorse. That's why it got posted here.

        I don't like war. I'm not cheering for war. I don't endorse the parent post's take about it being a proxy war (have you never contributed to a conversation while simultaneously suppressing the urge to ackchyually the other person?).

        I'm not enthusiastic enough about accounting to view a gross and inhuman statement that endorses "fighting to the last Ukrainian" because its cheaper and good for US empire, and think, "well its horrible, but i can't argue with that math."

        And that's not an "akshually" that's a statement of principle. NATO supporting ghouls are no better than the nazis they arm and support. They deserve a spot in the pit next to them

        That doesn't change the objective truth about the cost difference

        If that's what you care enough about to post over here, or see statements endorsing proxy war and only care enough to congratulate their objectively true math, then fuck you.

        You can say you hate war all you want, but when it comes down to it you don't care about them making a nakedly evil and indefensiblely ghoulish position, you care more about math so

  • They defederated with us pre-emptively because they knew we had the posting tenacity to possibly shake up their reddit-brain circle jerk

  • It's fascinating to see these people come to something of an understanding, albeit superficial, of some of the most obvious realist motives and calculations behind the US's essential involvement in Ukraine as if they were stumbling onto a revelation, which should have been not only obvious before it even began (the US's foreign policy in this regard hasn't changed in 30 years) but should have made obvious how incomparably dangerous the US is, only for them to then say: "actually this is smart and good, I love paying top $$$ to impoverish Slavs and Chinese people".

  • I can already tell the second comment is an America worshipper from somewhere in Europe salivating at being a slave to the US. He would probably let the US nuke his own home and cry that they didn't obliterate everything.

    I always picture these types of people to be like that X-men character, toad. A sniveling little gremlin that looks up at its master with sad, pleading eyes with hope that it too will be seen as an equal. Only for the US to kick them off a helicopter when they're no longer useful.

  • Copy paste State Dept talking points. I swear I've seen this same exchange over and over on

    The whole "yeah, but..." damned the torpedoes Cold War Tom Clancy fever dream shit that brings nothing good for anyone but Cold War fanatc's bruised egos that mainland Russia hasn't balkanized for their stink tank vulture's masters.

  • I've basically ignored Lemmy. I've spent a grand total of less than ~4 minutes here. Over time I just came to ~4 threads, I sorted by "top", and I felt like I was at Reddit so I immediately left. Today was no exception...

    If Ukraine does not win, WW3 is the inevitable outcome in the next 10 years.

    • If we start from the premise of "conflict with Russia and China are inevitable", isn't a much smaller and relatively safe war where one of the countries gets to test out the issues with its logistics and mobilizations efforts not a good thing. Like if you're a NATO think tank guy wouldn't you rather that Russia discovers its military has corruption issues to the point of incompetence during WWIII rather than a precursor war that lets it sort that out?

      • Also, if you're NATO the last thing you want under those assumptions is an analogue to the Spanish civil war where everybody gets to see how good their latest and greatest toys are in an actual battlefield. Half of NATO's arsenal is made up of MIC make-work projects so utterly divorced from reality that it's a miracle they don't fall out of the sky or break down right off the assembly lines, and revealing as such just makes everyone take you far less seriously than before.

        There's a reason West Africa is telling France to fuck off right now, and it's 100% encouraged by the shitshow in Ukraine.

  • It never stops being cool seeing comrades from other instances coming to our little dunk tank.

    • I started an instance when the whole Reddit shit happened. I was already sick of that site anyway.

      But if y'all ever decide to defed from the larger Fediverse keep me in 🥺

      • Another instance owner here as well 👋 (albeit a looot smaller than yours lol). I started it due to the Reddit shit too and so glad I found Hexbear through it. It brings the balance to the force seeing as dot world is basically Reddit resurrected at this point.

  • RTS and SIM games poisoned a generation of minds.

    • Those are the special kind of libs that analyze world events and international relations in terms of concrete entities boxed into nice neat borders that are not only concrete in their character but also throughout thousands of years of history.

      They think of Russia, China, EU, US as vacuous molds destined to roleplay the stats and national end goals they were set out at the creation of their state, and that their enemies and allies were by design and fixed. That Russia and China are automatically the enemies that must have their wants and needs meticulously outplayed, that the EU and US are destined as the peacekeepers and rulemakers. With a dice roll they decide what the next steps should be to reach those nebulous goals. They failed to see the dynamics not only in the history of those states but also the people behind those states.

      It's all about the number game, strategic wartime decisions, not about the people, nor the humanity, nor the want for genuine understanding of all people from all around. No, the latter category is only used as weapons to advance their game so they can reach their vapid ideals.

  • Why did you remove the rest of the post from the screenshot?

    If I could wave a magic wand and end all wars and give the entire planet universal healthcare, I would.

    All I pointed out was that 1/3 of the estimated $8 trillion total cost of the US wars post-9/11 will be dedicated to veteran healthcare; whereas funding another country's war doesn't come with those costs.

    It's not a hot take. It's not a position. You're projecting.

136 comments