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[+] -15 points 2 months ago (4 children)

Sit down and actually think about your statements.

with Ukraine at it's core

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  • [–] 11 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    At the core of the defense paradigm. Since Ukraine has a gigantic military (currently more personnel than even France), pretty cutting edge work on drone and anti-drone warfare and has been fighting for years against the EU’s biggest land threat. They’re not saying Ukraine is at the core of Europe the continent…

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  • [+] -13 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    Why is Russia the "EU's biggest land threat"?

    That's exactly the point. Allying with Ukraine is the main thing that drives that.

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  • [–] 6 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    Previously the European states learned that letting some major power go around willy-nilly annexing strips of land and entire states from their neighbors does not end well. They’re on Russia’s list of unfriendly countries, are subject to Russian influence operations that are not especially appreciated and there is some evidence to suggest that Russia would seek to reclaim lands from eastern EU states if given the opportunity. Plus the occasional bombing and constant rhetoric against them. So obviously they will prefer to back Ukraine rather than letting Russia absorb it, become stronger and start eyeing the next country.

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  • [+] -11 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    that letting some major power go around willy-nilly annexing strips of land and entire states from their neighbors does not end well

    Which power was that?

    and there is some evidence to suggest that Russia would seek to reclaim lands from eastern EU states if given the opportunity

    What evidence is that?

    Because, again, the logic from you chicken hawks seems only to be that Europe must support Ukraine fighting Russia, because it is obvious Russia is an enemy, based on the fact that they are fighting Ukraine.

    Notice the issue there? Nowhere is there any threat to Europe listed.

    and constant rhetoric against them

    wait, so rhetoric is a casus belli now?

    In that case, isn't this NAFO style crap direct aggression? They're very loud about how they're willing to fight to the last Ukrainian - of course, not when they'd be in danger themselves - but how it's good that Russians are dying.

    Russia has made no threat I'm aware of to attack any EU member. If you have evidence of such, present it. Otherwise, your weasel words are just that.

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  • [–] 6 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    Which power was that?

    Germany and the USSR were carving off regions and conquering small states left and right in the lead-up to WWII, both in independent adventures and their team-up via the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. The Munich Agreement is pretty egregious with Hitler claiming it was the last territorial demand he had in Europe and Chamberlain coming back claiming he had achieved peace for our time. Only for it to turn out that Germany would use all the fortifications, industry, manpower and resources it had gained at the expense of its neighbor to roll over the rest of Czechoslovakia. So Germany became a much more imposing force than it had started out as because folks were content to just watch it snowball and not help Czechoslovakia defend itself.

    What evidence is that?

    Because, again, the logic from you chicken hawks seems only to be that Europe must support Ukraine fighting Russia, because it is obvious Russia is an enemy, based on the fact that they are fighting Ukraine.

    Notice the issue there? Nowhere is there any threat to Europe listed.

    wait, so rhetoric is a casus belli now?

    In that case, isn’t this NAFO style crap direct aggression? They’re very loud about how they’re willing to fight to the last Ukrainian - of course, not when they’d be in danger themselves - but how it’s good that Russians are dying.

    Russia has made no threat I’m aware of to attack any EU member. If you have evidence of such, present it. Otherwise, your weasel words are just that.

    The rhetoric does matter when Russian politicians are threatening the EU all the time by saying they’ll nuke them, that ex. Baltic independence isn’t legal, that they’re states at war, etc. But there’s concrete action too. A Russian drone strike just hit an apartment in Romania and Medvedev is saying it won’t be the last one. They’ve set off parcel bombs in EU countries. Blown up ammunition depots. Violate their airspace, send assassins into their countries, cyberattacks, influence operations to boost separatists and groups like Brexit… and even if it weren’t doing all of that, a country that conquers smaller neighbors is plenty concerning on its own.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 months ago (1 child)

    Yeah. And how exactly was Nazi Germany stopped, again? That's the point you seem to be skipping over with your false equivalencies here.

    Violate their airspace, send assassins into their countries

    Blow up their pipelines, seize funds, and the like too?

    cyberattacks, influence operations to boost separatists and groups like Brexit

    So color revolutions for thee but not for me are fine?

    But hey, maybe we just have different ideas about what proper international relations look like. I'm sure that, considering you're claiming Russia has attacked Europe, you're now en route to fight in Ukraine, right?

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  • [–] 1 point 2 months ago (1 child)

    It was ultimately stopped with world war in the way it turned out, but that could have been headed off far less bloodily earlier on. If the powers that be had not gifted the Sudetenland to Germany then Czechoslovakia actually had a pretty decent set-up to defend with many fortifications at the rugged borders, far more defensible than the flat north European plain Poland had to defend against a Germany with millions more people, vast amounts of looted gold reserves and extra years of deficit spending to build a far more massive army. It could have held on while the west mobilized and attacked and wrecked Germany’s military via multiple fronts on a much smaller regional scale.

    Going back earlier with the remilitarization of the Rhineland the German troops had orders to immediately retreat and if they saw any armed resistance or so much as a single French uniform. The demilitarized Rhineland was key to the cordon sanitaire of French alliances that ringed Germany.

    Expansionist states don’t become easier to deal with as they grow bigger so unless you already have and expect to keep amazing relations you should probably not them keep growing unchecked. And even if you do have amazing relations you have to keep in mind that politics can change on a dime and throw that in peril.

    So color revolutions for thee but not for me are fine?

    Glad to see you’ve graduated on from Russia posing no threat to EU to positing that it’s only fair for them to be threatening. And against big threats you prepare countermeasures, such as not letting them swallow up your neighbors.

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  • [–] 9 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    I see someone has explained the obvious already, so I'll just defer to them.

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  • [+] -9 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    the obvious being you guys don't know what paradigm means, or that you have no reason to claim Ukraine is central to European defense against Russia?

    Excuse me, but proactive and paradigm? Aren't these just buzzwords that dumb people use to sound important?

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  • [–] 4 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    I'm sorry the word paradigm confuses you, but we do have dictionaries. It's easy too check the meaning of the word and not look stupid.

    Also, if you don't know what someone means, you can also ask, not just think they are stupid because you don't understand them.

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  • [+] -6 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    It doesn't confuse me. It doesn't mean what you think it does, as Ukraine is not a template.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    Look, take it easy. I know you are a kid, because you lack the self-confidence to ask people what they mean (and you shared a cartoon). But I can tell you, people that ask look way smarter than people that try to make it into a weird confrontation. Today you can just paste stuff into chatgpt or something and let it explain and for sure write a better response than you did, no offense. Plus, if you want an honest exchange of opinion, you must likely won't get it with an arrogant behavior, but by taking a few minutes and replying with something thoughtful. You got my 10 minutes, but that's done. Have a nice evening.

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  • [–] -4 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    Yeah, I'm middle-aged. You're on quite a roll here.

    Just don't use words you don't understand, it's a bad look.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    How embarassing then. Anyways what people are refusing to tell you (because it's obvious) is that being at the center of a paradigm and being at the center of a geographical landmass are different things.

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  • [–] -1 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    Ukraine is neither the center geographically nor strategically of any defense of the EU.

    being at the center of a paradigm

    Yeah, once again, you don't know what that word means. I suggest you look it up.

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  • [–] 0 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    Ok, double-checked the definition, it means exactly what I thought it does. You're going to have to explain your argument like an adult if you want me to respond further to explain how you are wrong.

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  • [–] 0 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    it means exactly what I thought it does

    Oh, OK. What is the replicable pattern of "defense" that is Ukraine, then?

    You seem to mean strategy. Ukraine is not the center of European defense strategy, but at least that word isn't just nonsense.

    to explain your argument like an adult

    Yes, this does feel like I'm talking to a 3 year old

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  • [–] 0 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    The beat you can do is "no u"?

    Anyways /uj for a second, "paradigm" has more than one definition. I think you're using a different one than we were, which is roughly "a method or framework for thought". A paradigm is a way of thinking about something, or a set of tools and methods used to do so. This is the definition used in the phrase "paradigm shift" and is pretty common; it overlaps with, but is different to, using "paradigm" to refer to an exceptional example of something to replicate. Saying Ukraine will be at the center of the european defense paradigm means that it will be used as a foundational point of reference when discussing defense, and its capabilities will be key to our defense strategy.

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  • [–] 0 points 2 months ago*

    Saying Ukraine will be at the center of the european defense paradigm means that it will be used as a foundational point of reference when discussing defense, and its capabilities will be key to our defense strategy.

    And again, that is meaningless unless you're claiming you will replicate Ukraine's defense in other places.

    Nor is Ukraine "foundational", unless you think that all of Europe is a former part of the USSR that was also the center of WWII against the Russian state of the time. If you'd like to suggest some other country that fits that "paradigm", I'm all ears.

    Ukraine isn't foundational - it's a proxy war now abandoned by the US that too much of Europe has decided to let anchor it.

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  • [–] 7 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    Now try reading the entire sentence!

    spoilerUkraine is at the core of the defence paradigm ... not the core of Europe.

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  • [+] -13 points 2 months ago

    Defense of what? Using words you don't understand doesn't change the fact you haven't defined what you're trying to say.

    Which is basically a tautology that just sees fighting Russia as a good thing on its own, but without any reason given.

    So again, sit down and actually think about what you're trying to say. You'll come off far less stupid.

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