Yeah... That type of brainwashing is so commonplace now though. Just look at how the US is treating striking dock workers, people keep talking about how they make xxx,xxx and not how the ceos make xxx,xxx,xxx,xxx like it's the workers being greedy... 🥲

During WWII in Britain, about 10% of the men drafted were sent down into the coal mines instead of being sent off to war. In addition to enduring the horrific conditions of the mines, they had to endure abuse for not fighting. For bonus points, the old-time miners would often haze these draftees by letting their elevator cages free-fall for a bit during their first trips down.

I wish I could upvote this more, that show is amazing!

Alan Alda's got a pretty good podcast now. I watched a lot of MASH reruns growing up. Feels strange that kids now don't have the experience of watching a bunch of stuff that's not made for them at all, just because that's what's on TV.

Best show, ever.

Relevant Futurama I think. https://youtu.be/fiG2HiXNIjs?si=0uLeNsQzrXasBg-0

😭 It was in the Operating Room too, which means it had no laugh track. I loved the versatility of this show, but the OR was dead serious. The optimism of Mulcahey against the emphatic cynicism of Hawk is a great character moment. I'm dead inside.

Why don't presidents fight the war?

Generals gathered in their masses. Just like witches at black masses.

Because they're worth less, obviously!

Barbarisms by barbaras, with pointed heels

Great question. See, a farmer can't stay behind and command the state because he is a farmer. The heads of state and the elite cannot all perish in trenches because then all that would remain are farmers. Established heirarchy for organizational power was invented probably by whatever primates we evolved from, and is observed among even some other species of primate.

I think WW1 was kind of like the comic. It was a bunch of squabbling family members who got into a pissing match and then sent their citizens to die. It never would have happened if Gramma Vicky had still been alive!

It's a pretty stupid comic actually. The conversation usually goes more along the lines of one nation demanding territory from the other, and the other telling the first to fuck right off.

I in general agree with what you wrote, but the Israel/Iran brinkmanship does feel a bit like the portrayal in this comic at times. So the comic seems relevant to recent events.

Don't forget proxy wars and subterfuge. It's much easier to gain influence through "soft" power than through brutal invasion and occupation, but this "soft" power can still result in tremendous bloodshed, like instigated coups.

I think your premise is wrong. It's more plausible that because war is beneficial for the 1 percent, that this song and dance of political theater is purely to keep you and I entertained and in line.

Or we could go with your idea that Putin thought it was a good idea to piss off the most powerful nations because he wanted to conquer some land. He was like A) I could peacefully hang out on my massive yacht or B) become enemies with a country that is notorious for stealth drone strikes.

That is not really how it works most of the time

That is indeed how it works most of the time

Cousin, let's go play bowling.

It's close, but no, the first panel has more than one person

Zelensky has done a fine job getting directly involved, imo.

Bc people are so stupid, they believe in nationalism and are easy to manipulate

There are definitely some wars I'd much rather were just MMA death fights between the PM's and presidents.

And others where I'm glad they aren't, because the country whose victory would be best for the common good is led by someone who would not win a physical fight.

The warrior-king model certainly had its own flaws, but at least when the king declared war, he picked up a sword and fought.

Forget that. They need to face the same stakes that they’ve forced millions of other people to face. Deadly force. Put them through the same grueling conditions, and the cost of failure is death.

So we should have a political system where the physically strongest get elected leader? Or would it be a elected position?

Current US election aside

I'm no politologist or military strategist, but I'm pretty sure a lot of wars (not all of them) are started so that a nation's government can get better control over their own population. If the state can declare an emergency situation, they can use it to justify cracking down on political dissidents, invasive surveillance, restrincting freedom of speech, etc in the eyes of the public. It can also be used to ramp up nationalism, which works in the ruling class' favour. Pretty sure this is at least part of the reason behind putin and nettanyahu stirring shit up right now.

Stealing is not allowed so you can’t do that. You dont own the whole world.

The problem is that everything is allowed, so they just do that.

Those who don't want to fight in some war - terrorize your population sufficiently and they'll obey, or you can keep them under propaganda pressure and they'll agree.

I would be a coward and flee to a better place.

What if someone wants to take your land, demolish thousand years old churches and fortresses and graveyards, kill all your countrymen they can, all that purely out of hate\envy and because they can?

Would you not want to kill some of those people? Would you not want to prevent such things happening.

Think of foreign policy as a ladder, and you are the person in charge of your country (or at least their foreign relations). Each rung is a new action you can take to influence the behavior of other countries.

The first step is formal communications. That's easy, you're probably on that step with just about every other nation. The next few rings are all other friendly diplomatic steps, things like opening embassies, making trade agreements, non-aggression pacts, etc.

Now let's say a neighboring country is doing something you don't like. Your nation's grievance with them will fall into one of a few broad categories: they are a threat to your security, they are a threat to your interests, or they are a threat to your honor (meaning your international reputation). Whatever the reason, your job is to change their behavior and none of the previous steps on the ladder have worked, so now you climb higher.

The next rungs are less friendly, but are still diplomatic. These are things like denouncements, cessation of trade, tariffs, and sanctions. At the very top of this set of rungs, you close your embassy and demand they close theirs. You break off most communication. Finally, you tell the whole world why they have wronged you.

Now you've done everything you can diplomatically, but their behavior is still a threat to your security, interest, or honor. How do you change their behavior? There are more rungs on the ladder.

Going all the way back to Sun Tzu, generals have known that their job was to take over when the diplomats failed. This doesn't mean that total war is immediate or inevitable. The military could conduct raids, surgical strikes, or enforce an embargo. Warfare is simply the top rungs of the ladder of foreign policy. Some nations climb it more quickly or willingly than others, but war exists on the same spectrum as diplomacy.

Why a country want to attack another country.

A lot of reasons. The most common is a territorial dispute that escalates over time.

The Israel invasion of Gaza is a response to the Al Asqa Flood, which was a response to Israeli encroachment into the Al Asqa Mosque which was a response to Palestinian protests over Israeli treatment of protesters during the 2018 March of Return which was a response to the blah blah blah which was a response to the Israeli Nakba of 1948. And all of that is a consequence of British colonialism in the Middle East, followed by a sloppy (arguably deliberately so) partisan of territories between Arabs and Jews at the end of WW2.

We could play the same game with Ukraine/Russia, which is an extension of a conflict dating back to WW1 and the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. Or we could go to China/Taiwan and talk about the number of times that the island changed hands from early antiquity to the end of the Chinese Civil War.

Stealing is not allowed so you can’t do that.

Telling this to the American First Nations people. Passing the word along to descendants of African and Latin American slaves.

"I am free to move there", saying you are American/western European without saying you are American/western European.

Do you know why some countries wanted to attack Germany in the 1930s and 40s?

Sometimes the lesser evil really is war, but much more rarely than war hawks would like to claim. The Roman Empire famously caused strife among their neighbors and used that as an excuse to attack "for the safety of Rome."

Power, ideology and ressources

Countries don't attack other countries.

Governments attack other governments.

All of us normal folks who just want to live life are forced along for the ride because we happen to live within the boundaries of a particular government's claimed territory.

To me is it like I am free to move there

Usually countries at war don't let conscription eligible people leave.

The cool thing about Advanced Wars (and other build-a-unit games) is that the units are not, themselves, people. They are simply widgets that exist long enough to complete a mission and then stop existing.

The problem with COs IRL is that they're not just summoning combatants from the Ether. They're calling up other real humans to do incredibly dangerous shit, ostensibly for the betterment of "the nation" (but in practice we know better). And these people don't just appear/disappear for the war. They continue to live with the nightmare they survived, or they leave behind family and friends who have their own blood feuds to settle with the enemy nation.

that would be bad, yes. but you could also make the argument that the guy in charge of things would be much less likely to initiate a war if he knew there was a chance he could get turned into beefaroni in a foxhole.

No but you can conscript their kids and require them to be on the Frontline. You can have a conscription program that cannot be bought out or excused. You can require a military referendum.

There are ways to deal with this problem.

Just get another guy charge then?

Yes! We! Can!

Putin most certainly doesn't give a fuck about anyone, not even Russians...

So much weight on their shoulders deciding to bomb a school or hospital next.