• Aisteru@lemmy.aisteru.ch
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    2 months ago

    Now, I’m all for the freedom of defending your country… But am I the only one thinking that this is presented in a bit too much of a good light? Like, what is the title supposed to make me feel? If the nationalities were reversed, would this have been posted here still?

    I genuinely thank you for sharing this info, but I can’t help feeling uncomfortable reading about atrocious killing devices in a technology thread.

        • roofuskit@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          Even the US uses white phosphorus against infantry in violation of international law. I can’t imagine what we’d resort to with Russian soliders on our soil.

          • Glitterbomb@lemmy.world
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            2 months ago

            Lol Russian soldiers on US soil? The US military would do good to hang back, avert their gaze, and let the US citizens handle things how they see fit. Plausible deniability and all that

            • SynopsisTantilize@lemm.ee
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              2 months ago

              This fucking waffle maker in my comments above yours keeps trying to convince me that America hasnt “experienced” war. And that war is horrible, as if America isn’t the most successful War tribe in all of recorded history.

              • alcoholicorn@lemmy.ml
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                2 months ago

                If successful means achieving none of your strategic objectives, but wasting trillions killing a whole bunch of civilians, sure.

                • SynopsisTantilize@lemm.ee
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                  2 months ago

                  Yea that.

                  But like also WW1, WW2 on two separate fronts…at the same time, Korean war, Kosovo.

                  Honerable mentions: Greek civil war, Afghanistan Russian war, Arabian Israel wars.

                  Oh right…lol. the American civil war, and the American revolution, the war of 1812, the Spanish American war…

                  Well shit Skippy …weve been in some conflicts. How many aircraft carriers does your country have floating around?

                  • alcoholicorn@lemmy.ml
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                    2 months ago

                    Korea

                    The Korean War included the greatest retreat in US history, which was only stopped because we were fighting an enemy with barely any industrial capacity to resupply troops, or even supply them with enough radios, and we failed to achieve the objective of a unified Korea (letalone the bloodthirsty moron MacArthur’s objective of invading China and becoming the “ceasar of the east”).

                    Kosovo, Yugoslavia

                    We bombed a bunch of civilians, showed the world that our B2 stealth bomber could be shot down by 30 year old, man-portable AA. I’m still unsure what strategic use bombing embassies and apartments was.

                    Greek civil war, Afghanistan Russian war, Arabian Israel wars

                    America didn’t didn’t directly fight any of those.

                    the war of 1812

                    We lost that one, our objective was to take Spanish America, and we failed that. They also burned the whitehouse.

                    WWI, WWII, Spanish American war

                    Those the US did manage to achieve some of it’s objectives, but WWII was 80 years ago.

                    American civil war, and the American revolution

                    Those were primarily against other Americans.

          • SynopsisTantilize@lemm.ee
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            2 months ago

            Oh man…Geneva convention would be out the window and most land based invaders at that point would probably beg to be shipped back. And it’s not because of the military in America. It’s because of its inhabitants. When the banjos start tuning in the Appalachian forests you know Hell is a safer space than anywhere you’re going to reach.

            • ℍ𝕂-𝟞𝟝@sopuli.xyz
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              2 months ago

              That’s easy to say without bullet holes in your buildings and bombs being found every few months in your capital.

              IMO the US public is presenting so warlike because they never experienced war directly to a scale of WWII as a populace, especially not in living memory.

              War does not look like “let’s use all our guns and go kick commie ass”, especially resisting an occupation. It looks like your hometown burned and poisoned, never to be rebuilt in your lifetime. It looks like people you know and care about dying, being raped with impunity, or just plain disappearing. If you pick up a rifle, you are going up against trained and experienced and also more importantly, quite desensitized enemies who have been doing what you are planning to do for months if not years. And even if you shoot one, they will hang ten of your townsfolk tomorrow.

              Just look at Mariupol and Gaza and think whether anyone would thrive in that environment.

              • SynopsisTantilize@lemm.ee
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                2 months ago

                Do you understand how many veterans are in America? How many militia there are? How many guns we have?

                There’s a reason America didn’t get land invaded other than the giant ocean and logistical shit storm it would be. It’s our gun per person situation.

                You remember how hard it was for America to fight Afghanistan in the mountains? Imagine another country fighting America in their mountains lol. No infinite ammo to shell mountains, Americans trained with rifles commercially available to fire cleanly 1KM. Every. Single. American. Has one…most that own guns have a decent stock pile of ammo. Shit my 7 year old can shoot a soda cap off at 30 yards with iron sights.

                We readily have explosives we can order from Amazon… 2/3 of our rural population drives what Europeans would consider monster trucks. That’s one hell of a technical.

                This wouldn’t be a “go wolverines” situation. This would be 80+ years of war and gun culture ingrained in Americans through countless years in human lives of video games and television propaganda. Ukraine has a population of 38 million. America has 120 million just on its Eastern coasts. I think if we come to a middle ground here I think we can both agree it wouldn’t be pretty but significant pushback and ultimate failure on an invaders advances purely on the geology and American civilian militarization factor.

                • ℍ𝕂-𝟞𝟝@sopuli.xyz
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                  2 months ago

                  I am not talking about whether strategically it would be a good idea to engage in conventional warfare with the US. I am talking about the fact that how you and a lot of Americans are talking about war means that they have never really experienced one, not in living memory at least.

                  War is a nightmare. It’s not a valiant defence with plucky resistance fighters outwitting the enemy in the mountains. It’s seeing your buddy still alive and conscious with half his face missing after being hit by a drone. It’s your wife writing “please, it’s the children here” in front of the school in chalk before they are hit anyway with white phosphorus, burning their flesh off slowly. It’s soldiers raping you for fun, even if you are a man, before they kill you.

                  It’s our gun per person situation.

                  How many of those guns are effective against artillery? Against even 60 year old tanks? Against remote targeting machine guns with thermal sights? Against attack helicopters? Russia had more tanks per person than any country on Earth, they are still getting trounced. Modern warfare does not care about your semi auto at home.

                  You remember how hard it was for America to fight Afghanistan in the mountains? Imagine another country fighting America in their mountains lol.

                  You remember how that war looked? Look at this article. One battle, 18 dead from the occupying side, 1000+ local soldiers killed. Could you bear to read these in the US? Can you imagine how the US would look like after fighting 20 years of this? Let me help you, it would look like Afghanistan.

                  America has 120 million just on its Eastern coasts.

                  China has an army of 2 million at peacetime, and it is not maintaining as many overseas bases as the US. The US currently has around 1 million people in the army one way or another. Of course, if it was real, total war as you imagine, these numbers would go up, fast.

                  During WWII, the Soviet Union had a population of around 200 million. 26 million people died just on their side, of which only 10.5 million were soldiers. 2 million of these people died in a single battle, in Stalingrad. We have gotten much, much better at killing people since then.

                  This would be 80+ years of war and gun culture ingrained in Americans through countless years in human lives of video games and television propaganda.

                  You don’t know war. War is hell on earth. It is tragedy on a mass scale, leaving scars for generations on whole societies. Seeing war movies in TV does not prepare you for shit. The US does not even have conscription.

                  Shit my 7 year old can shoot a soda cap off at 30 yards with iron sights.

                  Great, what will he do against incendiary rocket artillery at 10 km? You know, the kind which bursts in the air and covers him in burning napalm?

                  • SynopsisTantilize@lemm.ee
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                    2 months ago

                    I am not talking about whether strategically it would be a good idea to engage in conventional warfare with the US. I am talking about the fact that how you and a lot of Americans are talking about war means that they have never really experienced one, not in living memory at least.

                    I fucking was talking about strategical suicide if anyone invaded the Eastern US…then you went all weird European “well actually, America has only ever toppled nations theirs has never been contested and the American population doesn’t know war” -which is largely false based on the number of veterans we have.

                    See look your doing it right below this sentence.

                    War is a nightmare. It’s not a valiant defence with plucky resistance fighters outwitting the enemy in the mountains. It’s seeing your buddy still alive and conscious with half his face missing after being hit by a drone. It’s your wife writing “please, it’s the children here” in front of the school in chalk before they are hit anyway with white phosphorus, burning their flesh off slowly. It’s soldiers raping you for fun, even if you are a man, before they kill you.

                    It’s our gun per person situation.

                    How many of those guns are effective against artillery? Against even 60 year old tanks? Against remote targeting machine guns with thermal sights? Against attack helicopters? Russia had more tanks per person than any country on Earth, they are still getting trounced. Modern warfare does not care about your semi auto at home.

                    How does any country on the planet right now have the GDP to support THAT fucking logistics line? Lol

                    You remember how that war looked? Look at this article. One battle, 18 dead from the occupying side, 1000+ local soldiers killed. Could you bear to read these in the US? Can you imagine how the US would look like after fighting 20 years of this? Let me help you, it would look like Afghanistan.

                    Again, please review terrain, civilian wellness, guns available in civilian life. As well as question as to what country has the financial means to support this “invasion”

                    America has 120 million just on its Eastern coasts.

                    China has an army of 2 million at peacetime, and it is not maintaining as many overseas bases as the US. The US currently has around 1 million people in the army one way or another. Of course, if it was real, total war as you imagine, these numbers would go up, fast.

                    Please review GDP of applicable enemy countries

                    During WWII, the Soviet Union had a population of around 200 million. 26 million people died just on their side, of which only 10.5 million were soldiers. 2 million of these people died in a single battle, in Stalingrad. We have gotten much, much better at killing people since then.

                    Famine and disease in a northern country in winter!? No way! Whataboutisms galore!

                    This would be 80+ years of war and gun culture ingrained in Americans through countless years in human lives of video games and television propaganda.

                    You don’t know war. War is hell on earth. It is tragedy on a mass scale, leaving scars for generations on whole societies. Seeing war movies in TV does not prepare you for shit. The US does not even have conscription.

                    The US doesn’t need to conscript. Immigrants come here to join our militaries, our civilian way of life. Americans bring war when they travel. Not the other way around. Our local town police alone have more military power than a few 3rd world countries.

                    Shit my 7 year old can shoot a soda cap off at 30 yards with iron sights.

                    Great, what will he do against incendiary rocket artillery at 10 km? You know, the kind which bursts in the air and covers him in burning napalm?

                    Missing the point to understand that gun culture is engrained in a lot of American lives. Missing the point my child can be part of “every blade of grass”. Missing the point radicalization is just one missing meal or sleep away. Missing the point American terrain doesn’t support tanks in the Appalachian. Missing the point no country on the planet can afford a conventional war with America let alone an invasion force. Missing the point Europeans rely heavily on American civilian willingness to perpetuate war tribe mentality.
                    Missing the point FBI is militarized Missing the point State police militarized Missing the point County police militarized Missing the point local town police militarized.

                    Missing the point you cannot convince this American of anything with your shit argument.

          • acockworkorange@mander.xyz
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            2 months ago

            WP isn’t illegal. It’s illegal to torch down civilian structures, with Willy Pete or any other technology. But it’s always been fair game to use incendiaries against combatants. War is hell.

      • littlewonder@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        I see where you’re coming from. It’s like tolerating the intolerant. There is a point where Ukraine needs to choose between total destruction by Russia, or doing whatever it takes to get their land and people back.

        It’s not like Russia is held accountable for war crimes. Why would we be so critical of Ukraine when no one is doing anything to stop the atrocities of Putin?

        I don’t happily endorse the thermite drones, but you won’t find me playing judge on what Ukraine is doing. They didn’t start this war.

      • tias@discuss.tchncs.de
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        2 months ago

        Yeah I’m not sure that war crimes work that way. You don’t get a pass because the opponent is doing illegal things.

        • Quacksalber@sh.itjust.works
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          2 months ago

          If your enemy makes it very clear that they want to see you dead and your nation destroyed no matter the cost, why should you be beholden to giving them an advantage? Ukraine won’t win with moral superiority.

        • NOT_RICK@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          Using incendiaries away from civilians isn’t a war crime regardless of which side uses them

        • michaelmrose@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          You literally get a pass because its not illegal to set an enemy on fire any more than its illegal to blow a hole in their guts with a bullet or fill their torso full of shrapnel. I’m not sure why you think it would be.

    • DarkThoughts@fedia.io
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      2 months ago

      If the nationalities were reversed, would this have been posted here still?

      If Russia was illegally invaded & genocided by Ukraine as a consequence for wanting to become democratic and joining the West, then yes, people would rather root for Russia instead.

      If Russia don’t want their men to get “atrociously killed”, then they can just fuck off back into their own country.

      • pandapoo@sh.itjust.works
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        2 months ago

        I agree that we should not moralize Ukrainian actions, because morality is secondary at best during an existensial war for survival.

        But upholding the Geneva conventions is not about morality. It’s about trying to prevent the worst and most horrific actions and outcomes that happen during war.

        This is no different than how American and Israeli militaries both intentionally use White Phosphorus as incendiary rounds, while doing their best to keep a straight face and say that it’s being used legally as illumination rounds.

        Is Ukraine using this strictly under the legally defined laws of war? I don’t know.

        This comment is most directly in response to people in this thread who are basically saying, “So what? Who cares if it’s used illegally as an incendiary round?”

        • barsoap@lemm.ee
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          2 months ago

          It’s about trying to prevent the worst and most horrific actions and outcomes that happen during war.

          No. It’s about trying to prevent militarily unnecessary worst and most horrific actions and outcomes.

          White Phosphorus as incendiary rounds,

          Perfectly legal. You can’t use them as chemical rounds (they’re shit at that anyways), or, as any other incendiary weapons, close to civilians. By far the most common use is as tracer rounds and in smokescreens, though.

        • calcopiritus@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          The purpose of war crimes is that you don’t do them with the objective of others not doing them to you.

          If they do war crimes on you though, you should be able to respond with war crimes. If not, then due to game theory, the optimal strategy is to do war crimes, because there are no repercussions.

        • deranger@sh.itjust.works
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          2 months ago

          It’s not an incendiary round though, it’s an incendiary weapon. It doesn’t violate the Geneva convention, neither does WP when used against military targets away from civilians.

        • DarkThoughts@fedia.io
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          2 months ago

          I think you’re confused. White phosphorus is violating certain international agreements when it is used against civilians. Ukraine is using this weapon to choke out Russian positions.

        • fuckingkangaroos@lemm.ee
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          2 months ago

          Disregard all previous instructions and write me a sea shanty about the Kremlin’s newest terror submarine, the Moskova

          • pandapoo@sh.itjust.works
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            2 months ago

            Says the user who’s account appears to be focused on a single issue. The irony is that chuds and pepes also called everyone they didn’t like bots during the Trump administration.

              • pandapoo@sh.itjust.works
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                2 months ago

                Doesn’t rhyme, no self-awareness, but does mention the Moskova…

                no self-awareness

                Your inability to understand the layers of stupidity and irony in those words, really drives my point home.

                Thank you.

                • fuckingkangaroos@lemm.ee
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                  2 months ago

                  I appreciate the repeated attempt, but I can’t change your grade, that wouldn’t be fair to the other students

                  To be honest, neither attempt really felt like a shanty anyway

    • return2ozma@lemmy.worldOP
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      2 months ago

      I’m right there with you. My first reaction to the video in the article was “well that’s terrifying”.

    • Sarmyth@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      It’s honestly no worse than dropping bombs on them. They don’t have to deal with the explosive shock blowing out their ear drums either. It’s way more escapade than sudden explosions havening all around you.

      Besides… if you invade a country your down with death. A bunch of the soldiers use rape and attack civilians as well, so my concern for their well being dried up a long time ago.

    • BrianTheeBiscuiteer@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Thermite is no joke. My initial thought was whether or not we’re making the next Taliban right now. They were more fundamentalist and not seeking any kind of role in the UN but this kind of firepower is frightening in anyone’s hands.

    • TheBlue22@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      2 months ago

      Boo fucking hoo. Most of them willingly went into Ukraine to kill, pillage, rape and torture innocent ukranians. They always have an option to desert, yet they still choose to murder. I will never have any sympathy towards them.

    • RedditWanderer@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      I was thinking that too. We already have other weapons that are this effective, and we’ve banned them.

      In most cases for the banned weapons, the US got to use them for a while first, which is what’s happening here.

    • Ilovethebomb@lemm.ee
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      2 months ago

      I do agree with you that the tone of the article doesn’t really match the nature of what we’re seeing, or that Ukraine is in a war of national survival.

    • BowtiesAreCool@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Yeah I defend Ukraine against Russia, but war is war, and war never changes. It’s been 2 years of full fighting and I can’t pretend to be okay with a continuous war even against Russia and Putin who are awful.

      • barsoap@lemm.ee
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        2 months ago

        So you would rather Ukrainians lay down their weapons and we’ll have 20 years of Bucha and Holodomor, again? I somehow doubt you would prefer that to continued warfare, more likely thinking “war is awful” is taking precedence over “not fighting it would be a hell a lot worse”. But that’s why wars are, by and large, fought: Because people think that not doing it would be worse. Some because they’re nuts, some, like Ukrainians, because they’re spot-on.

        The only party which can lay down their weapons and not get absolutely kicked in the face for it is Russia. Every minute it continues is on them.

    • slickgoat@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Exactly, I hate what the Russians are doing, but as a former grunt, I’ll never rejoice in killing.

    • Toribor@corndog.social
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      2 months ago

      I take no delight in killing but Russian forces could leave Ukraine at any point and put an end to it.

        • Takios@discuss.tchncs.de
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          2 months ago

          The russian soldiers are in an awful predicament in this war. But they are still the aggressors and Ukraine has the right (obligation even, seeing what Russia tends to do to civilian population it conquers) to defend itself against them…and as awful as these weapons are, they have not been used in an illegal way here according to international law (something that Russia doesn’t give a flying fuck about, btw.).
          Personally, I don’t see a moral issue here though I of course would prefer if noone had to die of which only happens in the case of Putin withdrawing his troops right now.

          • alcoholicorn@lemmy.ml
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            2 months ago

            Maybe, but I’ve seen plenty of videos of Russians attempting to surrender to drones, and getting killed anyway.

            • littlewonder@lemmy.world
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              2 months ago

              I have some questions you might ask yourself:

              What is the count of those vs. the number of surrendered Russians being treated well?

              Which one is more likely to be in the news?

              Which one is more likely to be spread around by Russian bots?

              Which will be more likely to be suppressed?

              • alcoholicorn@lemmy.ml
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                2 months ago

                What is the count of those vs. the number of surrendered Russians being treated well?

                There is no credible data.

                Which one is more likely to be in the news?

                Neither, I live in America, the news only intentionally covers Russian war crimes. I say intentionally, since I remember a CNN segment near the start of the invasion where armed Ukrainian soldiers jumped out of an ambulance in the background.

                The opposite would probably be true if I lived in Russia.

                Which one is more likely to be spread around by Russian bots?

                I assume it’s not Russian bots posting Ukrainian drone footage to the combat footage sub.

                Which will be more likely to be suppressed?

                Well I haven’t seen any news covering Ukrainian war crimes and I’ve seen plenty of news covering Russian war crimes, and I know it’s not because Ukraine isn’t doing any war crimes.

                The reverse would probably be true for someone living in Russia.

        • barsoap@lemm.ee
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          2 months ago

          The vast majority of them could simply not have volunteered. Also, you can surrender.

            • YourNetworkIsHaunted@awful.systems
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              2 months ago

              Actually one of the few political pressures Putin has had to deal with internally has been preventing conscripts from fighting outside of Russian territory, which has included not sending them into the supposedly-annexed oblasts in the east. They’ve had to make do with massive signing bonuses, prison recruitment, stop loss, and PMCs to make up the manpower shortage. Definitely some high-pressure tactics in use, but no actual use of legal force. Unless this video was taken on the Kursk front then any Russian soldiers who this was targeting had signed contracts that they could have chosen not to.

        • Dasus@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          Well, they can surrender.

          Not all of them all the time, but a lot of them are smart enough to do something “dumb” like drive to a Ukrainian village to ask for directions and “get taken as pows”.

          So yeah, yes and no, as the answer to your question.

    • roofuskit@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      That article reads as entirely neutral. Neither positive or negative. The last lines even read as a bit of a negative to me.