A combat-unit commander told non-commissioned officers at a briefing Monday that the Iran war is part of God’s plan and that Pres. Donald Trump was “anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to Earth,” according to a complaint by a non-commissioned officer.

From Saturday morning through Monday night, more than 110 similar complaints about commanders in every branch of the military had been logged by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF).

The complaints came from more than 40 different units spread across at least 30 military installations, the MRFF told me Monday night.

      • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
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        That’s the one facet of detachment we already have well underway. The big debate right now is German-Norwegian vs. Korean subs. German self-propelled howitzers are also a shoe-in.

        (Meanwhile, the big goal with trade is to get America down to just half of our business in a decade, and people seem to think that’s ambitious)

        Edit: Oh, and the F-35 purchase is being gone through yet again, and Saab is trying to sell us their plane instead yet again.

        • Absurdly Stupid @lemmy.world
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          There are a lot of reasons to despise Trump, don’t get me wrong

          … but I think his total disruption of our typical web of influence is a GOOD THING, in the long run.

          The USA imperial beast (which is really just the UK imperial beast with a change in headquarters) has played the “good guys” for far too long, it’s nice to have the cards out on the table for all to see. Not the good guys. Haven’t been the good guys for a very long time. Those days are gone.

        • BigTuffAl@lemmy.zip
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          French make really good howitzer trucks. I was considering one since they are designed to suit 4 operators and they’re roughly the same price as a house in Missisauga or Guelph. I figure you have to be able to finance one if you can live in it.

      • Coleslaw4145@lemmy.world
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        If you mean small arms then surprisingly enough its mostly Canada made or European.

        Most of Canada’s armoured vehicles are either Canadian made or German. For example, their main battle tanks are German (Leopard 2).

        A lot of Canadian artillery is made up of French and British pieces.

        It’s really just the Air Force that’s dominated by US equipment.

        • Absurdly Stupid @lemmy.world
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          You’re certain?

          Have you head of a “kill switch”? Check it out

          Anyway, it’s ALL about ‘who you buy them from’. That’s the point, friend

            • Absurdly Stupid @lemmy.world
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              You don’t install a kill switch into analog, friend, all of that goes without saying.

              But that targeting system for your howitzer? That’s another matter, there are CERTAINLY such vulnerabilities, it’s not science fiction.

        • eli@lemmy.world
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          That seems to be the answer for everything on this site. I left reddit because I didn’t like all of the doom scrolling, nihilistic, bullshit posts, yet they’re here too now.

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            I’m convinced it’s part of state sponsored propaganda and influence campaigns. The tactic is to always belittle any idea, frame everything as pointless, and divide opposition.

            So many comments like, “if you can’t even get people to go vote, how do you think they’ll resist?”

            I’m tired of it. I think the only way to combat it is to set up heavily moderated areas where cynicism is flagged and removed. But man, even that’s a slippery slope, to easy for mods to take over to enforce discussion only around what they want.

            But however it’s going to be done, I want people ready to act. And stop with this cynical, defeatist BS.

            • Sp00kyB00k@lemmy.world
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              Exactly. And ideas don’t have to be perfect to be functional. Or at least a good starting point.

          • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
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            Cynicism seems smart even when it’s not. That seems to be the way it works, and I think I read it’s been shown scientifically.

            • phutatorius@lemmy.zip
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              I’m deeply cynical in the ancient meaning of the term (and not in the ancient literal meaning of living like a dog): based on long experience, I am convinced that people are largely motivated by their (self-perceived) self-interest. I’ve met a few people with other motivations, but they’re prominent in my memory because of their rarity.

              But that doesn’t mean I’m checked out: I just know that there’s a continuing struggle to counter that pro-nihilist brainwashing.

              • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
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                For big decisions, it always boils down to MICE. Money, identity, coercion and ego. One can think of exceptions, but you basically have to look at medical pathologies.

                For little decisions, what about empathy? People will genuinely show it when confronted by something on the spot.

          • Asfalttikyntaja@sopuli.xyz
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            Beat me to it. I would love to have some place where I could go without having to read anything about US related.

            • flabberjabber@lemmy.world
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              I dont mind the presence of these articles. I like to be in the know. I like the opportunity to engage in a constructive nuanced discussion that you can no longer find on Reddit, and can be found in abundance on Lemmy.

              What effects me most is that, whether honest (human), not (bots) or covert (intelligence agencies), the defeatism, acceptance and obeyance in advance is the fundamental barrier to meaningful change. It catches, it spreads and it demoralises. It is the boot on our collective necks.

              We need to be more mindful of spreading our nihilism to each other, unless we’re happy being part of the problem. More solutions, more raising each other up, less wallowing.

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                I agree with you, but the usual “absolutely nothing can be done except armed insurrection” you see here is just another flavor of the same doomerism.

                • phutatorius@lemmy.zip
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                  the usual “absolutely nothing can be done except armed insurrection”

                  That might be where we have to go. But even that will fail without solidarity, organization and clear ideas of what will replace the current, evil and corrupt system.

            • eli@lemmy.world
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              It’s not even just US related subjects though. There was just a post the other day about physical media(photos, dvds, etc.) and I posted a comment detailing pricing out a local NAS so you can backup your shit to it(because physical media can get destroyed) and replies I got were the whole “digital stuff can get destroyed too”, “ransomware”, “it’s about the experiences! you can’t have that with digital!”, “prices are CRAZY for computer stuff!”(even though I linked products at reasonable prices and people said it isn’t that price anymore, CLICK THE LINK DUMBASS!).

              And it’s all an asinine argument because you can DO BOTH. Have your physical photos AND back them up digitally.

              It’s all or nothing with some people and it’s infuriating. It feels like I’m arguing with children over ice cream flavors. Yeah, chocolate is good, but I prefer strawberry and then it devolves into “CHOCOLATE ONLY FOR EVERYONE!”.

              • phutatorius@lemmy.zip
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                Stupid either/or thinking seems to be getting increasingly prevalent. I think it’s being promoted to train us to not think in a nuanced, resilient way. It’s like their goal is learned pseudo-autism.

        • BeardededSquidward@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          Make the USA bleed for every centimeter of land. Get even the MAGAts to be tired of the significant losses they reconsider. This didn’t stop with Venezuela and won’t stop with Iran. If the USA starts coming to the negotiating table you strike first. Because we just showed we cannot be trusted at all.

          • phutatorius@lemmy.zip
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            This didn’t stop with Venezuela and won’t stop with Iran.

            Very little has actually changed in Venezuela, besides some manipulation of the oil market.

            Here’s the thing. Regardless of where Trump is attacking, the US can inflict state terror by aerial bombardment, which is costly in money terms but doesn’t lead to many US casualties. But if the goal is actual regime change, rather than just destruction of infrastructure and a high civilian body count, that requires occupation. Boots on the ground lead to high casualties and Americans coming home in body bags. So far, Trump hasn’t gone there, because (despite his incompetence, narcissism and greed) he is also very concerned about his popularity.

        • SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca
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          As opposed to what?, taking on the largest military force in world history with a few guns, a dozen fighter jets?

          Not you of course, other people.

          It would be a slaughter and the US would be done day one by lunch. This is reality, not Hollywood.

          Fucking Toronto collapsed into depression and inactivity two weeks into COVID lockdowns.

          • rabber@lemmy.ca
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            Yeah they are built different. And so are we. Imagine these southerners invade us in the winter lol

            • phutatorius@lemmy.zip
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              What’s Canadian for sisu?

              Imagine these southerners invade us in the winter lol

              They asked someone in the Greenland government how they’d counter a winter invasion: “We won’t go out and rescue them.”

        • SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca
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          Then promptly allied with the Nazis when they knew they could not beat them, and only got rid of them when they were in retreat late in the european war.

      • qaeta@lemmy.ca
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        Worked for Afghanistan. No one thinks that we have a chance in a conventional warfare scenario, and we absolutely don’t, which is why we will not make it a conventional warfare scenario. It will be an insurgency where everyone looks just like them. And that insurgency will 100% spread south.

        Pretty sure our military budget is higher than Al-Qaeda’s.

        • SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca
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          Worked for Afghanistan.

          Ignorant comment. 176,000 Afghanis died and they are still at war. This thread is a bunch of clueless keyboard warriors.

      • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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        That’s not how budgets work. The US has a massive air carrier fleet where do you think they got that from did it just spring into existence no they paid for it.

        the world is using moving away from using the US dollar as the world’s default currency. They’re not going to have unlimited amounts of money for much longer.

        • Xylian@lemmy.world
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          Thats also the reason why they could get bankrupt. USA is doing Hitlers war economy at this point. Get loan for war, rob other countries (in this case oil) and try to pay off the debt.

          We will see if this will work out in the end… I do not know much about state financials, but this seems insane to me: https://www.usdebtclock.org/

        • SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca
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          They’re not going to have unlimited amounts of money for much longer.

          unless they invade other countries and take it. See Venezuela.

          • Agrivar@lemmy.world
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            “Taking” Venezuala cost us money and won’t net a profit for decades, if ever. GTFO with your doomerism BS, bot!

          • BeardededSquidward@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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            So you just pointed out the reason why you SHOULDN’T capitulate. Because you’ll just be another piggy bank that the USA will bleed dry too for endless wars. Then you’ll be worse off than the average USA citizen.

          • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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            They haven’t taken anything. The US oil companies have zero interest in Venezuela primarily because setting up operations would be prohibitively expensive.

            Cost benefit analysis is a thing and the Trump administration are far too stupid to be able to cope with it. Essentially it may not actually be worth exploiting another country, this being a concept that Trump cannot understand because he has the brain of a chronically depressed fruit fly.

      • phutatorius@lemmy.zip
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        How much of that $1T is actually translating into anything useful on the battlefield, versus lining Trump cronies’ pockets? And how many of the expensive systems that are actually purchased are vulnerable to attacks by cheap drones or other asymmetric tactics?

      • ArmchairAce1944@discuss.online
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        Partisan warfare. They need to train as many people as possible and arm them. Have a ready made resistance force.

        This is also why all information sharing on Canadians to the Americans must stop.

      • Bytemeister@lemmy.world
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        Yeah, but it’s run by absolute morons. All the guns in the world won’t stop you from shooting yourself in the foot.

        • SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca
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          Likely hundreds of thousands of lives were saved by surrender. Read some history. Most of those armies would have countered the Nazis with swords and horses.

          Pretty sick of keyboard warriors advocating we spend like the US for war toys, to end up exactly like the US, a nation of people in crippling debt, no health care, with a huge number of war machines.

          Also, Franch is not a country, it is an experimental French-Ranch dressing from Madrigal Electromotive.

          • BeardededSquidward@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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            People are advocating not turning over for the fascists like they did in the 1930s. But I can see how it’s appealing to let concentration camps, public executions, and a country that will bleed you dry do so.