Saw some gobby turds giving a guy a hard time on Threads earlier for saying he’d be a “conscientious objector” in a war. Totally support him, but not for the reasons folk think.

The idiots even tried being insulting to me, calling me a ‘liberal’.

Not a Newsflash - I’m a socialist and proud of it.

I’m also a 6-year army veteran, and naturally violent. Combat, Rugby, Ice Hockey, NFL-rules Football, full-contact ring fighting (Boxing, Muay Thai, MMA), etc.

No squaddie ever wanted a conscript as a squad mate. NOBODY.

We wanted well-trained soldiers who would fight and kill like we would. So anyone who doesn’t want to be on the front line is of NO USE to us. Hence, I fully support ‘conshies’, and pacifists. No sarcasm.

Plenty of good jobs they can do back home. Not everyone needs to be a killer, nor should they be expected to become one.

Older Europeans in several countries support mandatory military service. Younger people not so much. Now why might that be? #Conscription #EU www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...

Europeans back higher defence ...

Today in Labor History June 7, 1971: The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that clothing with the words "Fuck the Draft" was protected by the First amendment. The Court overturned the conviction of Paul Cohen for disturbing the peace, setting the precedent that vulgar writing is protected under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. This, of course, could quickly change under the current far rightwing court.

In 1968, Kiyoshi Kuromiya designed this poster and sent orders by mail. He was arrested by the FBI and charged with sending indecent material through the Post Office. Later that year, after beating the charges, Kuromiya defied the authorities by handing out 2000 of the posters at the Chicago Democratic Convention. The photo is of Detroiter Bill Greenshields was taken at random during a 1967 March on the Pentagon and used by Kuromiya.

There has been no draft in the U.S. since 1973. Ending conscription was one of President Nixon’s campaign promises (not because he opposed conscription or imperialistic wars, but because he wanted to undermine the antiwar protest movement). However, if NATO continues its reckless escalation of the conflict in Ukraine, and their threat to station hundreds of thousands of troops along Russia’s entire western border, from Finland to the Balkans; or the U.S. attempts to fight Iran with boots on the ground; or the U.S. goes to war with China the mass slaughter could rise to the scale of World War II. And this could force the U.S. and Europe to reimpose the draft, so that they are not forced to replicate Ukraine’s desperate move of sending people over the age of 50 to the front. Indeed, Germany is already considering reimposing conscription because they can’t find enough willing volunteers. https://www.economist.com/europe/2024/06/06/germany-is-thinking-about-bringing-back-conscription

GERMANY
Pistorius: Conscription Could Return

Defense Minister warns if volunteer numbers fall short, conscription may be reintroduced.
Merz govt drafting new military law set for Jan 2026.
Germany ended conscription in 2011, but Russia’s 2022 invasion revived security concerns.

Russia sends 20,000 Central Asian-born citizens to fight in Ukraine after they attempted to dodge conscription https://timesca.com/russia-thousands-of-central-asia-born-russians-sent-to-ukraine-front-line/ #CentralAsia #UkraineConflict #Conscription #RussiaUkraineWar #CentralAsianCitizens

Ok, class - if Putin's doing it, cheeto is thinking about it.

What would you do if the coup started rounding up young American men and forcing them into military service?

What is the intention of the coup was to invade Canada? or Mexico? or Greenland?

What if the intention was to kill protestors? Execute immigrants? Put citizens under martial law? Prevent Voting?

It's possible.

Link: https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2025/05/01/russian-police-raid-gyms-and-martial-arts-clubs-amid-spring-conscription-drive-a88921

@sewblue
Hadn't previously considered reimposing a draft in terms of;
FTZWS,
Monkeywrench the system,
Power grab, &,
satisfying Putin.

It does tick all those boxes.
And it has that "Go back to the past" element too.

#Conscription & Trump match up in many ways.

Des Juifs ultra-orthodoxes Haredi ont manifesté hier devant deux centres de recrutement de Tsahal, affrontant la police tout en invectivant les conscrits de la nouvelle " brigade ultra-orthodoxe " de l'armée

#Israël #Conscription #Manifestation

L'armée israélienne est confrontée à une grave pénurie de main-d'œuvre et a actuellement besoin d'environ 12 000 nouveaux soldats.
Le mois dernier, la division de...

https://www.leperepeinard.com/breves/des-juifs-ultra-orthodoxes-haredi-ont-manifeste-hier-devant-deux-centres-de-recrutement-de-tsahal-affrontant-la-police-tout-en-invectivant-les-conscrits-de-la-nouvelle-brigade-ultra-orthodoxe-d/

War on Vietnam https://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/event/melbourne-history-talk-protesting-vietnam-war-and-national-service

50 years Later April 30 1975 - 2025
https://theconversation.com/50-years-later-vietnams-environment-still-bears-the-scars-of-war-and-signals-a-dark-future-for-gaza-and-ukraine-254971

#KeirStarmer #Resign #Zelenski #Ukraine #Conscription #Corruption https://youtu.be/l3CvfT2kF_U?si=l6kAoKEH8iU8yJ83

"The Israeli army is facing its biggest refusal crisis in decades" by Meron Rapoport for +972 Magazine, April 11, 2025 https://www.972mag.com/israeli-army-refusal-crisis-gaza-war/

Good, nuanced reporting.

GERMANY
Debates Rise Over Bringing Back Conscription

Berlin considers reviving mandatory service as troop targets rise to 203K by 2031.
Bundeswehr lacks infrastructure, trainers, & systems for conscription.
58% of Germans support it, but 61% of youth (18–29) oppose.

This paper by Arturo Zoffmann "focuses on resistance to the draft during the first recruitment drive of the National Defence Government in Greek Macedonia". This case study, allows him "to explore broader trends about the formation of the modern Balkan nation-states".

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19448953.2024.2414195

@histodons
@histodon

Could Europe conscript 300,000 troops needed to deter Russia without the US?

After the Cold War, European countries systematically down-sized their armies, with key players such as France suspending conscription and seeing a fall in the size of its armed forces - by 38% from the 1990s till today.

Could European nations reinstate compulsory military service? NATO allies are considering conscription.

https://mediafaro.org/article/20250311-could-europe-conscript-300000-troops-needed-to-deter-russia-without-the-us?mf_channel=mastodon&action=forward

https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/09/europe/latvia-europe-conscription-war-russia-intl/index.html

#Conscription #Latvia

@ehasbrouck

Conscription
"Les parfums nauséabonds qu’a connus le monde dans l’entre-deux-guerres se font de nouveau sentir. Devant la montée probable du chômage, le même François Legault nous affirme que les malheureux pourront être conscrits dans de nouveaux chantiers hydroélectriques. Comme dans les années 1930, en somme..."
https://www.ledevoir.com/opinion/chroniques/844993/chronique-gros-cactus
#chômage #conscription #CAQ #politique #société #HQ #capitalisme #monde #histoire #austérité #crise