• zephyrvs@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      45
      arrow-down
      33
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      Who doesn’t like their tax dollars being spent on killing people instead of socialist stuff like healthcare, education, social workers and government services that actually serve citizens.

      • UFO@programming.dev
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        35
        arrow-down
        3
        ·
        1 year ago

        The USA could afford what’s being provided to Ukraine and socialized benefits. But chooses not to because of some dumb reason or another.

          • ZombieTheZombieCat@lemm.ee
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            7
            ·
            1 year ago

            It’s more the hypocrisy of some people. The ones who cheer for a huge defense/foreign aid budget year after year no matter who it’s for, and then leave bitchy comments on FB about student loan forgiveness being “unfair” because it uses their tax dollars.

        • zephyrvs@lemmy.ml
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          10
          arrow-down
          12
          ·
          1 year ago

          I mean, yeah, they have the biggest money printer on the planet, so they could’ve socialized almost everything for their citizens if it didn’t go all into their black budgets, military, bribery and foreign meddling instead, but here they are, 32T in debt, double the debt from 10 years ago, ~100k of debt per person. If that’s not a failed state, I don’t know what is.

          • Rinox@feddit.it
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            2
            arrow-down
            2
            ·
            1 year ago

            If that’s not a failed state, I don’t know what is.

            You probably don’t know what is it. I mean, look at South Africa for a recent example of a failed state.

            • zephyrvs@lemmy.ml
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              arrow-down
              2
              ·
              1 year ago

              perhaps do some research on the colonial history of South Africa and Western exploitation and read up on the definition of the term failed state and then look at some news reports regarding the US. I don’t know how some of you people keep on coming up with these cheap rebuttals that you obviously haven’t spent more than a minute of thinking on.

      • anewbeginning@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        17
        arrow-down
        10
        ·
        1 year ago

        So, in your mind, helping to prevent civilians from dying in a war zone and stopping countries being taken over by foreign powers to be exploited is not a worthy humanitarian effort?

        • zephyrvs@lemmy.ml
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          13
          arrow-down
          13
          ·
          edit-2
          1 year ago

          European countries are taking somewhat decent care of Ukrainian refugees, which can’t be said for refugees that aren’t white skinned.

          And did you just collate military equipment with a humanitarian effort or am misreading that?

          I’m in full support of any real humanitarian aid possible: Support their wounded and sick, support their people with basic needs (generators/energy, food, water, clothing, temporary housing, psych support etc).

          Sometimes I’m really surprised at some of these questions you people come up with.

          Edit: Typo.

          • barsoap@lemm.ee
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            2
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            edit-2
            1 year ago

            The main difference between Ukrainian refugees and what we usually get is that Ukrainians are, without exception, well-educated enough to start working right away, and not just in unskilled low-income jobs. Compare that with, say, Somalis with virtually no education, and not even able to sit through a class because they never got accustomed to as kids, then competing with natives for a very limited number of those low-income jobs. That’s why Ukrainians get working permits straight away while we’d rather pay welfare for the Somalis until they’re ready.

            I don’t know what it is with Seppos and making everything about race. There’s actual fucking issues with integrating people from non-developed countries that are completely absent in the case of Ukraine. Ukraine may be piss-poor, yes, but its fundamentals are solid, quite a bit better than Romania and Bulgaria even I’d say and those are EU members.

            EDIT: While PISA numbers are to be taken with a whole salt shaker as measuring good education is notoriously difficult (see “teach the test”) Ukraine outranks Greece across the disciplines. More or less head-to head with Italy.

            • zephyrvs@lemmy.ml
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              2
              arrow-down
              2
              ·
              1 year ago

              I was talking about the way they were treated, not which refugee is the better worker drone.

              • barsoap@lemm.ee
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                1
                arrow-down
                2
                ·
                1 year ago

                Ukrainians don’t burn their passports and refuse to aid in their identification, if that’s what you’re alluding to because that’s the kind of stuff gets you shitcanned in the “You can stay in a camp with full board and meagre pocket money and leave the country at any time but forget starting a life here” way, as the only reason to do that is if you don’t actually qualify for refugee status or asylum. But, again, nothing to do with race.

          • lemmyshmemmy@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            5
            arrow-down
            19
            ·
            1 year ago

            Europe has taken in millions of non-white refugees and taken great care of them. How many have Russia and china taken in? India? Brazil?

            • albigu@lemmygrad.ml
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              6
              arrow-down
              3
              ·
              1 year ago

              India and Brazil, famous white countries. Aren’t you people the “this is whataboutism” spam guys?

            • zephyrvs@lemmy.ml
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              6
              arrow-down
              5
              ·
              1 year ago

              Look it up. I’m not your personal researcher, sorry. I’m happy to provide sources to backup claims I’ve brought up myself.

              I never compared Europe to other nations in terms of harboring refugees and I didn’t even imply that Europe hasn’t been taking in refugees. I wish you’d spend a bit more time reading and understanding what people are writing instead of just coming up with cheap rhetorical or whataboutism questions.

              • lemmyshmemmy@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                2
                arrow-down
                12
                ·
                1 year ago

                My point is people to want to go there. They want to go to Europe because they’ll have good opportunities and be treated relatively well.

      • barsoap@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        4
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        The US is already spending as much federal tax dollars per capita on healthcare as the UK spends on the NHS. Figures that bailing out hospitals when patients invariably default on their debt is expensive: In the US they have tons of people ending up in ER requiring expensive treatment that would’ve been way cheaper and easier to treat preventively – but to do prevention you need to be able to afford a doctor’s visit. Sure you can stop spending that money but then you either let hospitals go bankrupt, or you have to allow them to reject patients and have them dying on the streets. Even for Americans that’s a bit too much.

        I don’t really have the numbers for education but one big point there is that in the US, education is largely funded by local taxes, that is, schools in low-income areas are severely underfunded, while those in high-income areas are overfunded. If anything it should be the exact opposite, the worst areas need the best schools to lift them up.

        But fixing either would cut into corporate profits and/or severely alleviate income equality (and, in the US, thereby, race inequality) so, yeah, don’t hold your breath.

      • krzschlss@kbin.social
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        10
        arrow-down
        11
        ·
        1 year ago

        They have no need for healthcare, education and stuff. They are afraid of their own shadows, they just need guns to defend themselves. In the end, they can just eat those bullets to survive. …or shoot some skool.

        • krzschlss@kbin.social
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          13
          arrow-down
          17
          ·
          1 year ago

          To be global authoritarian you have to be the wealthiest and most powerful. And currently there is only one government and its army that takes this title.

        • 133arc585@lemmy.ml
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          17
          arrow-down
          28
          ·
          1 year ago

          authoritarian threats

          This is a meaningless term used in this way. Every state is authoritarian, by definition. The only “state” that isn’t authoritarian is anarchy, and that’s only not an authoritarian state because it’s not a state. Use more accurate terms if you want to make a point.

          Countries are ignoring global authoritarian threats, by ignoring themselves, but that’s probably not the point you were trying to make.

            • redtea@lemmygrad.ml
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              19
              arrow-down
              6
              ·
              1 year ago

              rejection of political plurality,

              Like when so much money is funnelled into US politics that only two capitalist ‘parties’ are able to compete, and they have almost identical policies except for some window dressing?

              the use of strong central power to preserve the political status quo,

              Like when the republicans block democrat legislation, even though the democrats are in power?

              and reductions in the rule of law,

              What happened to Roe v Wade and how?

              separation of powers,

              Like when the previous POTUS secures a GOP majority on the Supreme Court, which the current POTUS can’t change?

              and democratic voting.

              Like suppressing votes by criminalising being black and requiring voter ID?

              The problem with the term ‘authoritarian’ is that it’s either meaningless and applies to everybody or nobody and is used as a weak rhetorical device, or it’s given some theoretical basis and it applies to every state and is used to shed light on state relations. Either way, it’s not a coherent criticism in an of itself.

      • realitista@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        30
        arrow-down
        19
        ·
        1 year ago

        Me too. I’ve opposed every US war that occured in my 50 year life except this one.

            • lemmyshmemmy@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              18
              arrow-down
              26
              ·
              1 year ago

              For one thing, this is a violent land grab. For another, this the effort and will of what… 50 countries? Vs about five: China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela. And those 50 countries are on average much more democratic than Russia and it’s allies.

              • Red Wizard 🪄@lemmygrad.ml
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                19
                arrow-down
                18
                ·
                1 year ago

                Lol imagine thinking you have an iota of democracy when you can’t even get a broken leg fixed without dying from debt. You can’t even be unemployed without it being a literal death sentence.

                Imagine thinking China, Russia, Iran, North Korea and Venezuela were not made into the countries they are today through the direct interference into their political systems by the some of the 50 ciuntries you mentioned.

              • ☭ Blursty ☭@lemmygrad.ml
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                8
                arrow-down
                27
                ·
                1 year ago

                You’ve been brainwashed. The world stands with Russia on this and is opposed to America’s war in Ukraine. The most provoked war in living memory.

                • assembly@lemmy.world
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  3
                  arrow-down
                  2
                  ·
                  1 year ago

                  The UN has consistently voted against Russia on this. There are a handful of authoritarian that back Russia but globally support for Ukraine is unparalleled.

                • lemmyshmemmy@lemmy.world
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  16
                  arrow-down
                  17
                  ·
                  1 year ago

                  No, the world really doesn’t stand with Russia, if you have any understanding of international relations you would see that. Even the countries that have voted to support Russia are represented by relatively authoritarian governments.

        • nelsnelson@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          It’s infuriating to me to see Democracy Now reporting get downvoted. 🤬

          • Red Wizard 🪄@lemmygrad.ml
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            22
            arrow-down
            2
            ·
            1 year ago

            Democracy Now! Is a 501©3 non-profit news organization that was founded in 1996… What are you talking about? They are one of the oldest and one of the few non corporate news agencies in the country…

            But keep getting your news from black rock backed sources I guess.

          • redtea@lemmygrad.ml
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            20
            arrow-down
            2
            ·
            1 year ago

            YouTube hosts videos. It doesn’t directly create content of it’s own. The video in question, which merely happens to be hosted on YouTube, was produced by a media organisation, Democracy Now.

          • krzschlss@kbin.social
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            13
            arrow-down
            22
            ·
            edit-2
            1 year ago

            No, base your “worldview” on the echo chamber in these Ukraine threads, they all learned their “worldview” in Crusader Kings 3. Some of em in “Mein Kampf” it would seem.

    • redtea@lemmygrad.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      18
      arrow-down
      23
      ·
      1 year ago

      Why is the continuation of this war any better than the continuation of any war?

      • zephyrvs@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        17
        arrow-down
        12
        ·
        1 year ago

        A lot of people are propagandized as fuck (and I do not mean that as an insult on their intelligence or anyting, good propaganda works really well, even on smart people) and I don’t think most of these comments would survive if the posters spent a bit more time thinking about what they’re actually saying.

        • redtea@lemmygrad.ml
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          16
          arrow-down
          12
          ·
          edit-2
          1 year ago

          Obviously I don’t know everyone’s political histories. But most people around me IRL who supported the idea of going into Iraq and Afghanistan (they were kind of blurred into one conflict) said, ‘never again’ and have been quite anti-war ever since.

          A few of those backtracked and said, ‘well, maybe one more time’ when it came to Libya. Then afterwards, they said, ‘we really mean “never again” this time’.

          But Ukraine has sent almost everyone into a frenzy for war. I had assumed that after Iraq, especially—which exposed the depth of lying that NATO is willing to sink to—that nobody would believe NATO’s version of the truth again. How naive I was.

          I wouldn’t even mind if they (not necessarily Jaysyn, whom I don’t know) still disbelieved Russia’s narrative. In fact, I’d welcome it. A little healthy skepticism would lead to far better politics. All I see is skepticism against Russia but total faith in NATO. Where has critical thinking gone?

          To disbelieve Russia’s narrative only to accept NATO’s? Wtf did I miss? I don’t think gullibility covers it. As you say, it must be constant and clever propaganda. I suppose they have the money for it, considering how much they have to gain if they can beat the drum of war.

          Edit: grammar

      • lemmyshmemmy@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        21
        arrow-down
        29
        ·
        1 year ago

        How is this different from someone saying “let’s just give Hitler Poland”

        Are you saying the Ukrainians should stop fighting? Is that what you would do if someone invaded your home?

        • zephyrvs@lemmy.ml
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          12
          arrow-down
          17
          ·
          1 year ago

          This rhetoric reminds of the German military’s questioning when pacifists refused mandatory military service. “You say you’re against violence but what if someone threatened your family and you had a gun?” Great intellectual company you’re keeping here.

          • stephen01king@lemmy.zip
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            3
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            1 year ago

            How does mandatory military service relate to helping to fund another country from an invading force?

            Should the other European nations not fight against the Nazis when they invaded other countries in order to not ‘prolong’ the war?

            • zephyrvs@lemmy.ml
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              arrow-down
              3
              ·
              1 year ago

              I’m comparing rhetorics. Read the post I was replying to and then mine again, please.

              • stephen01king@lemmy.zip
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                1
                arrow-down
                1
                ·
                1 year ago

                What’s the point of comparing rhetoric that has nothing to do with each other? The comment you replied to compared it giving Poland away to Hitler since it both connected by the act of giving in to the demands of a dictator to avoid war, which WW2 has proven doesn’t work. Your comment instead is comparing the act of giving into Putin’s demand is equal to pacifists refusing mandatory military service, which sounds ridiculous.

          • DaDaDrood@feddit.nl
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            7
            arrow-down
            32
            ·
            1 year ago

            However it’s not rhetoric. It’s cold hard history. Allowing a fascist dictator to invade a sovereign country led to WW2.

        • ☭ Blursty ☭@lemmygrad.ml
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          arrow-down
          11
          ·
          1 year ago

          They liberated millions of people who were being ethnically cleansed by Ukraine’s Nazis. That required invasion.

        • redtea@lemmygrad.ml
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          10
          arrow-down
          18
          ·
          edit-2
          1 year ago

          How did the countries (excepting Poland) who currently make up NATO respond when Hitler invaded Poland?

          Yes, I am saying Ukraine should stop fighting. That’s what hoping for an end of the war means. Ukraine should stop fighting and Russia should stop fighting. That’s what peace entails. Or at least a ceasefire. Maybe the peace can come later, after peace talks.

          In the meantime, NATO needs to stop sending weapons. Because it can’t hope to supply Ukraine with enough to turn Russia around. And it can’t hope to supply Ukraine with enough to maintain current lines until at least a year or two. So the alternative to stopping the fighting seems to be to prolongue a devastating and drawn out fight.

          Is that what you would do if someone invaded your home?

          That’s the wrong question in the context. Ukraine was in civil war before the invasion. So either way, you’re faced with a logic of both sides fighting off ‘invaders’. You don’t have to agree with the other side’s claims (the separatists, for you, I imagine), but it’s hard to deny that they would make that claim.

          Further, were I empowered to make such decisions in similar circumstances in my country, I would never have (i) flirted with the US/NATO, (ii) given up my nukes only to later hint to NATO that I would host NATO nukes in my country, and (iii) have ignored the international treaties that I had signed, such as at Minsk or in Turkey.

          Edit: grammar

    • krzschlss@kbin.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      21
      arrow-down
      31
      ·
      1 year ago

      And one of the worst uses of the 2 brain cells you have left. Your tax dollars are the driving force for war and misery across the globe for decades now, the only difference is that your government isn’t hiding it anymore, because they know now that you zombies will give all your money for some entertainment on the news after shooting up a school.

      • fiah@discuss.tchncs.de
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        29
        arrow-down
        14
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        if you want to call attention to the fucked up shit that the USA and NATO has done in the last couple of decades, comparing it with supplying weapons to a democracy to defend itself against an invading bunch of fascist war criminals is definitely NOT helping your case

        edit: I have been informed that Ukraine isn’t perfect, and that therefor the invasion and the long list of war crimes perpetrated by the invaders are justified

        • krzschlss@kbin.social
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          16
          arrow-down
          16
          ·
          1 year ago

          Democracy? The US and NATO aren’t fighting for democracy. They are losing a cheap sex tourist destination in Eastern Europe because of this war. That’s worth all those Billions! Don’t give me the “defending democracy” excuse!

        • zephyrvs@lemmy.ml
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          13
          arrow-down
          20
          ·
          edit-2
          1 year ago

          A democracy that recently announced that it postponed elections, a year after declaring the opposition parties as illegal.

          • DaDaDrood@feddit.nl
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            11
            arrow-down
            40
            ·
            1 year ago

            You know that postponing elections during a war is : a, fucking logical, because how to fuck are you going to get a representative vote if half of the country has fled or is on the frontline and b, their constitution says there can’t be elections during martial law. source Every fucking pro Russian troll arguments in this thread need to be ousted here before this place gets to be a Russian troll pit as well.

            • zephyrvs@lemmy.ml
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              8
              arrow-down
              7
              ·
              edit-2
              1 year ago

              Just the reply I was expecting, thanks for walking right into the trap where you conveniently failed to even mention the opposition part.

              And I’m the troll.

              Edit:

              Even Foreign Policy isn’t as one-sided as you are in their portrayal of the situation:

              Concern over the decision to postpone Ukraine’s elections has come from both Ukraine’s friends and foes. […] On the other hand, PACE President Tiny Kox said that while he recognizes the enormity of the struggle Ukraine faces, the country must uphold its obligations under international agreements to hold elections. “It is up to [Ukraine] how to solve this challenge,” he told a Council of Europe summit in May, adding that “there will be no complaints against Ukraine if the elections are not ideal. But if you do not hold elections, then everyone will have questions about you … without elections, democracy is impossible.”

              Unless PACE is also just a Russian troll. 🤡

              But indeed, elections during war/state of emergency are unconstitutional and highly impractible. Still funny you dodged the opposition point I made.

              • DaDaDrood@feddit.nl
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                3
                arrow-down
                35
                ·
                1 year ago

                Untill you give me a source that states that the opposition isn’t able to function, I’m going to treat that part of your argument as blatant misinformation.

                • Pili@lemmygrad.ml
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  5
                  arrow-down
                  2
                  ·
                  1 year ago

                  It’s crazy how some people can have such strong opinions about this conflict while being so uninformed at the same time.

                • zephyrvs@lemmy.ml
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  3
                  arrow-down
                  3
                  ·
                  1 year ago

                  At least you’re open about your complete lack of awareness of this war. It’s shocking you’re even participating in this discussion though. The arrogance of offloading basic research of topics from a year ago to someone else to prove that I’m not spreading misinformation is quite something though.

                  Ukraine has had to take extraordinary measures to fight Russia’s invasion. Among them, the government has consolidated the country’s television outlets and dissolved rival political parties.

                  Source is NPR: https://www.npr.org/2022/07/08/1110577439/zelenskyy-has-consolidated-ukraines-tv-outlets-and-dissolved-rival-political-par

      • elskertesla@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        Countries are still increasing their defence spending. My investment in Raytheon that was done over 6 months ago has netted me a negative increase of -2,42%.

        It’s never late enough for you to beat that.

  • djsaskdja@reddthat.com
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    31
    arrow-down
    18
    ·
    1 year ago

    But you still have to pay back your student loans and pay a small fortune for healthcare because fuck you.

    • pyromaster55@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      38
      arrow-down
      8
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      Two have basically nothing to do with each other.

      We are still the richest nation in the world. 2.3 billion sounds like a lot, but its nothing to the us gov, it’s nothing to the defense budget alone, and it is actively wrecking the military capabilities of one of our top geopolitical rivals.

      I’m not going to pretend to understand the intricacies of the Russia/Ukraine situation, but I know this is peanuts compared to what it could cost us, and we don’t even have boots on the ground. This is the deal of a century.

      Be mad at the corrupt piece of shit republicans forcing you to go into crippling debt for healthcare and education, not the innocent Ukrainians fighting for their lives and democracy.

      • zephyrvs@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        15
        arrow-down
        7
        ·
        1 year ago

        The good thing about a 2-party system is that you can always point to the other party as to why things are the way they are. :)

      • regul@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        6
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        Why would I only be mad at the Republicans? Joe Biden and most of the Democrats don’t support single payer or free tertiary education either.

    • Ilovethebomb@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      19
      ·
      1 year ago

      American pays mores per capita for healthcare than most countries with a single payer system.

      You’d actually save money if you changed.

      • djsaskdja@reddthat.com
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        arrow-down
        14
        ·
        1 year ago

        I get your point, but I’m not sure if that’s true. Americans in general are very unhealthy. I think that might explain why it’s more expensive at least somewhat.

        • 133arc585@lemmy.ml
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          18
          arrow-down
          3
          ·
          1 year ago

          Do you not see the chicken-or-egg situation here? They’re more unhealthy because of bad healthcare. That (bad) healthcare is more expensive because they’re more unhealthy.

          Moreover, much of the reason the healthcare is so expensive is because of insurance overhead, for-profit middlemen (including hospitals, private equity owning doctors offices, etc), massive prescription medication markups because people can’t go without medication, and other inefficiencies in the system. Even with an unhealthy population, it doesn’t need to be nearly as expensive as it is.

            • 133arc585@lemmy.ml
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              3
              arrow-down
              2
              ·
              edit-2
              1 year ago

              a lot of your food is just really unhealthy. I know from the keto subs that many basic ingredients have added sugar for no good reason, and that’s not even going into that whole HFC thing.

              That is true. It is possible to eat only healthy options if you make a concerted effort to, but if you casually just eat what’s convenient, or eat at restaurants, you will be consuming astronomical portions and really wacky macro ratios.

              People in the USA make the “well unhealthy food is cheap” argument which is only partially true; the more accurate claim is “convenient food is unhealthy”. I spend significantly less money on healthy ingredients and make my own food than someone who is buying convenient microwavable and prepared meals; but, it takes me a decent amount of time each day to cook versus a minute watching a microwave. I think cultural aspects of being overworked sneak in to this situation as well: when you have so little free time, and have worn yourself out at work, unless you really enjoy the act of cooking, you are likely to just reach for convenience rather than putting in effort to cook something healthy. Then, you have the interaction of eating unhealthy foods to self-soothe as a method of coping with the reality of being overworked.

              There are a lot of moving pieces but, all else being equal (that is, the population eats the same things and keeps the same activity level): the healthcare system in the USA could have a lot less waste and overhead (read: siphoned profits) and thus be a lot less costly to interact with.

          • djsaskdja@reddthat.com
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            2
            arrow-down
            6
            ·
            1 year ago

            I see it. It makes sense. I just don’t know if it’d initially be cheaper. I still think it’s the right thing to do, but it might take a generation for the savings to start happening.

        • Ilovethebomb@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          1 year ago

          That doesn’t help, but there’s genuinely a huge amount of money being siphoned off in the form of profits along the way.

          Americans aren’t that much worse than other countries.

  • freagle@lemmygrad.ml
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    13
    arrow-down
    6
    ·
    1 year ago

    Anyone know the total in lethal aid sent this year? I know last year it exceeded the entire Russian military budget.

    • Hank@kbin.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      17
      arrow-down
      4
      ·
      1 year ago

      Russia sits on a big ass stock of equipment. Of course Ukraine needs more in aid than Russia budgets to keep their stuff working.

      • redtea@lemmygrad.ml
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        7
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        What’s the Russian output? Can it keep up if NATO is sending ammunition? Or is Russia just dwindling it’s reserves?

        • Hank@kbin.social
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          17
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          They lost the upper hand in regards of tanks, they lose artillery at an unsustainable rate and they produced like 20 planes in a year. They still have a huge advantage in the air and that’s where there has to be found a solution to get Ukraine on a more equal level. I doubt that Russia will gain any significant amount of land anymore but idk when or if Ukraine can push them back beyond 2014 borders.

          Btw I’m dumb as shit and not a qualified source for any of the statements I made.

          • redtea@lemmygrad.ml
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            6
            ·
            1 year ago

            I wouldn’t put yourself down. There’s the ordinary fog of war and rather developed systems for spreading misinformation. I had a quick Google search and many of the results are… contradictory to say the least. The only thing that seems to be confirmed is that NATO can’t adequately supply Ukraine without stripping it’s own militaries of equipment. It seems to have run out of the arms that it’s willing to ‘give’ away (except for the nasty stuff that nobody should be using) and doesn’t have the capacity to ramp up production for a year or two at least.

  • ☭ Blursty ☭@lemmygrad.ml
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    4
    arrow-down
    18
    ·
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    It won’t help anything. It’s over, America lost its latest war. Now it’ll move on to Iran because it hasn’t a hope against China. It can’t even beat a bunch of goat herders in Afghanistan and now the world knows its military strategists are incompetent, its military equipment is shit. All it’s got now is these protection rackets in fascist Ukraine and Taiwan. Losers. The world hates America.

  • realcaseyrollins@kbin.projectsegfau.lt
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    13
    arrow-down
    28
    ·
    1 year ago

    You think that’s enough? Or do we still need to give them more money?

    (Let’s take note that the citizens are still poor, and Ukraine is still losing, reportedly still being outgunned as well)

    • Ilovethebomb@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      28
      arrow-down
      3
      ·
      1 year ago

      Uhh, wat? Ukraine is currently regaining territory from Russia, how are they losing?

      Fucking tankies.

      • ArxCyberwolf@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        20
        arrow-down
        3
        ·
        1 year ago

        Unfortunately this is lemmy.ml, which means the place is crawling with tankies. The admins of this instance are openly tankies, and I’ve seen so many braindead stupid takes from people who can’t see anything beyond “USA bad”.

      • ghost_laptop@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        1 year ago

        How much money do you want to bet? You seem confident and it seems like you read your news about the topic.

    • Version@feddit.de
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      25
      arrow-down
      4
      ·
      1 year ago

      Idk where you got this from, but Ukraine won in Kyiv, Kherson and Kharkiv. Currently the front moves very slowly towards Russia. No, the offensive isn‘t a huge success and I would even consider it a failure, but the fact that Ukraine can even start an offensive is proving that the weapon deliveries are working.

      • lemmyshmemmy@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        10
        arrow-down
        22
        ·
        1 year ago

        I wouldn’t call it anything yet, Ukrainians haven’t even used the bulk of their fresh troops and equipment.

          • lemmyshmemmy@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            10
            arrow-down
            19
            ·
            1 year ago

            No doubt it’s complicated, but some key factors are

            • Availability of ammunition (cluster munitions may help here)
            • Destroying artillery before advancing (the daily numbers have been looking good)
            • Removing mines before advancing
            • Disabling logistics (e.g. strikes on bridges, warehouses)
            • Waiting for a lucky opportunity

            It doesn’t cost them much to do things slowly, but keeping the Kremlin on its toes and embarrassed is good. The longer Ukraine holds on, the more equipment they get, like F-16s, Abrams, and ATACMS.