Any dollar the US puts towards defence is more likely to go to some arms manufacturer's CEO's kid's second maserati than it is to military preparedness. Any sane country is looking at what Ukraine is doing or Iran was doing until recently when looking to develop an actually effective military doctrine and not a graft machine.
Yes, that’s obvious, but unfortunately nothing will change until U.S. citizens put a stop to it. This is, sadly, a fact that no one else can change—precisely because of the utterly absurd amounts of money the U.S. spends annually on this farce. In this way, the billionaires ensure that the U.S. cannot be defeated militarily, even if the rest of the world were to rise up—in which case, the deranged US billionaires who rule this country would make sure that humanity goes down with them.
Therefore, the only ones who can change this are U.S. citizens, by putting a stop to this madness and finally holding the greedy minority that is making their lives a living hell accountable.
When Trump is replaced with anyone outside the republican party, Ukraine will once again be supported.
The GOP here has really fucked up this country. At this stage, it seems very unlikely they will retain power, though.
I’m not all that sure whether Drump—who is, after all, just a front man—will even be replaced. I mean, ICE, which is obviously a secret police force, has a budget that is many, many times higher than Ukraine’s. A budget that exceeds the combined budgets of all U.S. federal agencies (FBI, CIA, etc.) many times. This is equivalent to the military spending of a medium-sized country, significantly larger than Ukraine.
The reason for this seems quite obvious to me: the establishment of an autocracy modeled after Russia, since the status quo already hardly differs from Russia’s anyway—at least as far as the unrestricted power of the super-rich is concerned....
Almost like we should have been wary of any influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex.
Yes, absolutely, but it seems to me that this message never got through to the American people. It may well have been overlooked by past administrations amid all the typical flag-waving.
My hope is that, in the face of this completely obvious corruption—which the current administration didn’t invent, but which it exploits more shamelessly than any previous U.S. administration has—U.S. citizens might come to their senses.
Perhaps this completely obvious abuse of power will lead U.S. citizens to reflect on the values that have been instilled in them—according to all the propaganda—as a model democracy.
In other words: Perhaps, despite their unspeakable self-centeredness, U.S. citizens will eventually come to understand that what was sold to them as the American Dream is, in fact, nothing but a nightmare.
It is truly a shame that this realization apparently is only possible in the face of ruin. Yet, unfortunately, I am still undecided as to whether it has even sunk in at all, even now.
The bitter truth is this: My experiences are also based on exchanges with U.S. citizens on Lemmy. Even they, for the most part, want to carry on as before and are not willing to put up a fight.
Since I am well aware that these are just a small fraction of the people in the U.S., I have, unfortunately, given up all hope.
As a European, I expect that we will soon face military force from the U.S. due to the mindless policies of its leadership—simply because it is a declining power that clings to its past greatness, led by the mentally deranged who, due to their delusions, still consider illusions of the past to be reality.
Edit: Just to make this absolutely clear: The reason for the misery of U.S. citizens is by no means some kind of “agent” power from another country. The reason is the oligarchs who rule this country and shamelessly enrich themselves at the expense of the people’s suffering. As long as U.S. citizens aren’t aware of this, nothing can change.
Do you seriously think Russia would function any differently? Do you really think all those millions are voluntarily serving as Putin's henchmen?
It’s a quote from the farewell address of President Eisenhower.
Probably goes some way to outlining the split in America as he was a Republican who the Republican Party now stands almost entirely against, having learned that social politics is a fast track to political power and riches.
It’s hard to explain how a country of ~400 million lets this happen, but the short version is propaganda and lies. And unfortunately those aren’t limited to the US.
Even Eisenhower was, compared to today, still a reasonably decent person—though those were times when people’s perceptions weren’t controlled by billionaires, as is the case today.
That’s why it’s all the more important for us to come together and reflect on human values, rather than indulging in the hatred that the billionaires can spread through their unprecedented reach.
I refuse to view people as inherently bad simply because an absolute minority uses its money to propagate that view.
this country isn’t sending billions to Ukraine
It absolutely is. What are you talking about?
Biden is still largely responsible for this. If it were up to that orange pedo, all support would be cut off. He has already tried to cut the payments, but failed.
Biden is responsible for not prosecuting Trump when he was in the crosshairs. And Biden is responsible for ratcheting tensions in the Middle East when he should have been fortifying Europe. And Biden is responsible for falling into the same "Looming Threat of China!" trap that Dick Cheney set nearly 30 years ago, forcing the two countries together after Nixon/Kissinger had so neatly split them apart.
If it were up to that orange pedo, all support would be cut off.
Trump was dumping billions of dollars into the Ukrainian defense budget in 2018.
This blind insistence on Trump being a "Putin Puppet" is in direct odds with US foreign policy going back to Obama. Trump's interested in Trump and has been more than happy to break bread or turn coat on anyone and everyone.
I’m not from the U.S. Still, I’m familiar with most of this. Nevertheless, Trump reportedly wanted to slash aid to Ukraine drastically at the start of his second term.
But yes, I completely agree with you. I’ve never been able to understand why so many U.S. citizens are always looking for some kind of foreign “agent” to explain the crimes of their own government. You hear time and again that Trump is a puppet of either Russia or Israel or whomever.
I do consider him a puppet as well, but one who essentially acts on behalf of U.S. billionaires, while shamelessly enriching himself while doing so.
I think the most important thing would be for U.S. citizens to finally realize that their worst enemies are their own so-called elite.
I vote to burn Moscow anyway.
WHAT, Ukraine is a dictatorship for now? He's a lot nicer than I would ever be.
I donated 100 euros today to the defense account with a note saying thank you from Europe
I urge everyone to do the same
Ukraine should make Russia pay for the invasion and genocide it is inflicting on their people.
It takes way more bombs to inflict enough damage in a population to affect a war positively. If you don't drop enough then the city will only grow more radicalized against Ukraine. The better option, which is Ukraine's strategy, is to disrupt war production and exports.
WW2 showed that we basically would have to fire bomb hundreds of square kilometers of city population and kill millions in order to make a dent in the same way as disrupting oil production. Regardless of your thoughts on indiscriminate murder of civilians, it's just not physically possible with Ukraine's current supply of bombs. Hitting refineries, storage, chemical plants, and ammunitions manufacturing is far more effective use of limited weaponry.
Hezbollah should make Israel pay. But they won't, because they don't have the hardware or the manpower.
If Kiev could have leveled Moscow, they'd have done it already.
Let’s not glorify Hezbollah
Well, they're Evil Brown Muslims, not Righteous European Judeo-Christians.
On day 1 they’d institute hijab requirements and stone gay people
Westerners discover gay rights (kinda) and five years later they're slapping the rainbow flag on tomahawk missiles.
The beatings will continue until total submission.
I doubt Russia will ever stop. They are caught in their own ego (anything but absolute strength is weakness) trap.
But often also those who fight for their survival survive and are so happy that they are still living, that profit is less important for them.
Not even survival?
Lockheed Martin wishes they were responsible for the drones Ukraine is using.
Ukraine is innovating independently. After the war ends a silver lining for Ukraine is that they will have a proven robust weapons industry.
That silver lining is nothing in the face of the suffering caused by Russia but still. Sadly Russia’s attack on Ukraine proves such industries are still needed. (For now)
Nah Ukraines drones are cheap and effective, I think the Lockheed Martin upper management would start puking in horror if someone lower down went over their head and started selling drones like that to the US military. So much potential profit lost to a lack of price gouging or regular software updates or a whole interconnected smart system thats needed for the drones to even work and mostly just gets in the way.
@quokk.au
Rules:
Be a decent person.
No racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, zionism/nazism, and so on.
Other Great Communities:
Rules
Be excellent to each other
go to feed...
@quokk.au
Rules:
Be a decent person.
No racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, zionism/nazism, and so on.
Other Great Communities:
Rules
Be excellent to each other
go to feed...
I think it’s great that the courageous fighters in Ukraine are not only demonstrating that resistance against a supposedly superior force is possible, but also how pointless the multi-billion expenditures on so-called defense contractors are.
This should serve as a lesson to the U.S. in particular, since this country isn’t sending billions to Ukraine but is instead funneling money—which is urgently needed here—to its arms manufacturers, just so that billionaires can line their pockets at the public’s expense.
Ukraine is showing just how pointless this is and where the money would be much better spent, if it must be spent on weapons at all.
The sad thing is that the U.S. will never do that, because it is just as much an oligarchy as Russia is, and—contrary to all the propaganda—that’s why it sides with Russia. That doesn’t seem to me to be the will of the American people, but unfortunately, it is the will of their malicious, billionaire overlords.
Here, too, Ukraine is showing that things don’t have to be this way. I have the utmost respect for that!
save