SleafordMod @ SleafordMod @feddit.uk

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10 mo. ago

3mo ago

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Britain has escalated the global nuclear arms race – and is bringing us closer to armageddon | Simon Tisdall
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SleafordMod @feddit.uk 3mo ago
If the UK got rid of its nukes then we'd just be defenceless against Russia, China, and even the US if the US decides they don't value their old allies (which seems to be the case these days).

3mo ago

UK plans $2bn weapons upgrade as Starmer calls for ‘war readiness’

Ok cool so you side with Hamas

No I don't side with Hamas. Hamas went into Israel and murdered over 1,000 people. I don't think Israelis or Palestinians should be killed.

settler colonial project

What's your solution for Israel/Palestine? Should Jews never have moved to Mandatory Palestine? Should Jews have been prevented from moving to Mandatory Palestine? Should they now be expelled from Israel/Palestine?

What I suggested in my previous post is "maybe there should be a single state in the land of Israel/Palestine with citizenship given to everybody who currently lives there". But would it be wrong in your view to give Jews citizenship in this hypothetical state, if the Jews are indeed colonial settlers?

3mo ago

UK plans $2bn weapons upgrade as Starmer calls for ‘war readiness’

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SleafordMod @feddit.uk 3mo ago

It's funny that you think Russia is justified in their invasion of Ukraine because a western-aligned Ukraine is apparently an "existential" threat to Russia. Ukraine is a much smaller country than Russia. Russia has some of the most powerful military capabilities in the world. If Ukraine, a relatively weak country, joined NATO, it wouldn't make a massive difference to the capabilities of NATO. Russia would still have great military resources that they could use to defend Russia.

The reason some Ukrainians want to join NATO is because of the very real existential threat that Russia has posed to the state of Ukraine. But that existential threat just doesn't matter, right Dmitri?

3mo ago

UK plans $2bn weapons upgrade as Starmer calls for ‘war readiness’

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SleafordMod @feddit.uk 3mo ago

It's absolutely possible for the UK to increase its defence spending while also not harming civilians, in the Middle East or anywhere else.

By your logic, no country should have a military, because a military creates a risk of harming civilians. I'm sure that would be great if we lived in a world with no militaries. But then one tyrant could decide he's going to build a military and then he could go and massacre lots of people who wouldn't be able to defend themselves, because they wouldn't have a military.

3mo ago

UK plans $2bn weapons upgrade as Starmer calls for ‘war readiness’

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SleafordMod @feddit.uk 3mo ago

It shouldn’t exist to begin with

You could say it's wrong that Israel was established by, as far as I'm aware, taking land by force. But probably most countries were established that way.

I've been thinking that maybe there should be a single state in the land of Israel/Palestine with citizenship given to everybody who currently lives there. But from what I've read, Israelis and Palestinians prefer a two-state solution, so maybe that should be pursued instead.

genocide is not self defense

I'm not saying that Israeli attacks on Gaza are self-defence. Attacks on civilians are definitely not self-defence. I specifically mentioned Iron Dome as a form of self-defence, a system which tries to take out missiles that are fired into Israel.

The only defenders in this situation are the Palestinian people

It's possible to acknowledge that Israel's current behaviour towards Gaza is very wrong, while also acknowledging that Israel has had rockets and missiles fired at them, from Hamas and Iran if I remember right.

Obviously the people who are suffering the most at the moment are Gazans, because Israel has stopped food from getting into Gaza, and Israel keeps bombing Gaza, which is killing civilians. This is obviously the most pressing issue. I just think that ideally no civilians would be harmed or killed, whether it's those suffering in Gaza at the moment, or whether it's Palestinians in the West Bank, or whether it's Israeli civilians.

3mo ago

UK plans $2bn weapons upgrade as Starmer calls for ‘war readiness’

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SleafordMod @feddit.uk 3mo ago

I think they're two separate issues, because it is perfectly possible for the UK to increase its defence capabilities, while also refraining from attacks upon the Middle East, and refraining from giving support to attacks on the Middle East.

3mo ago

UK plans $2bn weapons upgrade as Starmer calls for ‘war readiness’

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SleafordMod @feddit.uk 3mo ago

I don't know why you think Russia should be trusted to launch no more invasions of Europe. When they were building up forces on the borders of Ukraine in 2021/2022, they said they weren't about to launch a new invasion of Ukraine. But they did just that.

Next time it might be another former-USSR country, like one of the Baltics. The UK is of course obliged by its NATO membership to help the Baltics if they are invaded.

The idea that we should just trust Putin's government to stay away from Europe seems pretty crazy, given their actual behaviour.

Also you mention "the encroachment of western military infrastructure into easily penetrable borders" as if that's a legitimate excuse for Russia's invasions of Ukraine and Georgia. I don't think it is. Ukraine and Georgia shouldn't have been invaded.

3mo ago

UK plans $2bn weapons upgrade as Starmer calls for ‘war readiness’

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SleafordMod @feddit.uk 3mo ago

You keep talking about the Middle East. I hope Israel stops its war against Palestine. The UK shouldn't assist Israel's attacks on Palestine. I think Israel has a right to defend itself (and so does Palestine), e.g. with the Iron Dome system, but I don't think Israel should be harming any civilians in Palestine.

I think that's a separate issue from the UK and its allies spending more on defence in order to protect themselves from Russia, though.

3mo ago

UK plans $2bn weapons upgrade as Starmer calls for ‘war readiness’

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SleafordMod @feddit.uk 3mo ago

I still think these are two different issues. If you think Europe and the UK should do more to try and stop Israel's conduct in Palestine then that's fair enough. Maybe the UK should sanction Israel and/or take other measures.

I do think Russia is a threat to Europe though. When they were building up troops on the border of Ukraine in 2021/2022 they denied that they were going to launch a new invasion of Ukraine. But that's what they ended up doing in February 2022. Apparently Russia is now building up a stockpile of tanks besides what they're using for the invasion of Ukraine. So it's possible that Russia might attack another European country in the next few years, as senior military figures across Europe seem to be predicting.

3mo ago

UK plans $2bn weapons upgrade as Starmer calls for ‘war readiness’

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SleafordMod @feddit.uk 3mo ago

If you think Europe should do more to stop what Israel is doing in Gaza, and the West Bank, then I think that is fair. Europe probably should do more on that front.

Surely though that's a separate issue to the issue of the UK spending more on defence to deter aggression from Russia.

3mo ago

UK plans $2bn weapons upgrade as Starmer calls for ‘war readiness’

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SleafordMod @feddit.uk 3mo ago

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were probably wrong (I don't know enough about them really).

In any case I don't think the UK is planning new military action in the Middle East. Starmer recently criticised Israel for its conduct in Gaza. Maybe we will see more criticism from the UK on that topic.

On the topic of Russia though, I think they do pose a threat to Europe. They've been waging war against Ukraine for over a decade now, and senior military figures across Europe think that Russia might try to attack another European country in a few years time.

3mo ago

UK plans $2bn weapons upgrade as Starmer calls for ‘war readiness’

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SleafordMod @feddit.uk 3mo ago

Your politicians gut everything resembling a healthcare system, education system, energy infrastructure or useful industry, things that would actually allow you to create a healthy, innovative and powerful military.

You seem to suggest that a powerful military is a good thing then. Maybe it is. If Ukraine's military had been more powerful (e.g. if they had been admitted to NATO) then Russia may never have been able to take Ukrainian land, or kill so many Ukrainian civilians.

you will get a small amount of overbudget and late weapons that will be shipped off to kill people in the middle East

I don't believe in the UK harming anybody in the Middle East. I hope the UK doesn't do that. I don't see plans from the UK government that involve harming people in the Middle East with the UK military.

3mo ago

UK plans $2bn weapons upgrade as Starmer calls for ‘war readiness’

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SleafordMod @feddit.uk 3mo ago

Neoliberals have been overspending on war and invading every part of the planet since the end of WW2.

I don't think Europe plans to invade anywhere. Meanwhile Russia actually is invading Europe (Ukraine is part of Europe).

Look at how the European countries that are increasing their defence spending the most (Poland, the Baltics) are the ones next to Russia. The ones who are most likely to be attacked by Russia.

If they were so worried about an imminent Russian invasion or threat after Ukraine, they would not be pouring their already strained reserves to commit genocide in Palestine. Instead they would be conserving resources.

I don't think European countries are "pouring their already strained reserves to commit genocide in Palestine". Are European countries donating weapons to Israel? I think the US has given military aid to Israel, but I don't know if Europe has.

Recently there was a statement from the UK, France, and Canada, where they said that Israel's current action in Gaza is wrong. Maybe these countries should do more to stop what Israel is doing. Maybe they should sanction Israel. I think that could make sense.

3mo ago

UK plans $2bn weapons upgrade as Starmer calls for ‘war readiness’

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SleafordMod @feddit.uk 3mo ago

Defending the UK from the threat posed by Russia, mainly.

3mo ago

UK plans $2bn weapons upgrade as Starmer calls for ‘war readiness’

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SleafordMod @feddit.uk 3mo ago

Russia is not waging a war against Europe, but against Ukraine

Ukraine is in Europe.

They are literally explicitly not waging a war against Europe

Pro-war Russians often talk about the idea that they're not just fighting Ukraine but the whole of NATO.

none of their leaderships really think that Russia is a military threat to them

If that's true then why have many European countries been making plans to vastly increase their defence spending? They've been doing this because of the threat that Russia poses.

I read an article about Germany's chief of defence. Apparently Russia is now producing about 1,500 tanks every year. The German chief of defence said "not every single tank is going to [the war in] Ukraine, but it's also going in stocks and into new military structures always facing the West". Evidence like this supports his belief that Russia's stockpiles "could be used for an attack on Nato Baltic state members by 2029 or even earlier".

3mo ago

UK plans $2bn weapons upgrade as Starmer calls for ‘war readiness’

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SleafordMod @feddit.uk 3mo ago

That's like asking if I believe that ricin is a danger to humans

3mo ago

UK plans $2bn weapons upgrade as Starmer calls for ‘war readiness’

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SleafordMod @feddit.uk 3mo ago

Russia is already waging a war against Europe. Who knows how far they would go if European militaries didn't exist to deter them.

3mo ago

UK plans $2bn weapons upgrade as Starmer calls for ‘war readiness’

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SleafordMod @feddit.uk 3mo ago

Defending the UK given the current state of the world is sensible, but I wonder how they'll raise the cash for this

3mo ago

Hundreds of lawyers call for UK sanctions on Israel over Gaza war

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SleafordMod @feddit.uk 3mo ago

Maybe it could. Starmer and his government have become more critical of Israel recently.

3mo ago

How we can smash Britain’s two-party system for good at the next election

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SleafordMod @feddit.uk 3mo ago

I think the Netherlands and Germany both have proportional representation and their parliaments have a bigger mix of parties, representing the interests of different sections of society.

I don't favour PR because I think PR would be a better vehicle for my personal political views. I favour PR because I think a more democratic system is by itself a good thing. Under PR, every vote counts. But under FPTP, if you vote for a smaller party that has no chance of winning your constituency, your vote is essentially worthless.