Post by @mekkaokereke@hachyderm.io

@mekkaokereke@hachyderm.io · 9 hours ago

RE: https://hachyderm.io/@mekkaokereke/116160627758292678

Some folks have the mistaken impression that I think the US military can just beat everyone up unilaterally, and win any war? No. I think the polar opposite.

"Lethality" is not as useful for winning wars as coalition building. But even on the lethality point, the US military is less lethal than it was when it had people like this. It's just more violent and cruel now. Some people mistake that cruelty for lethality.

Competence matters. The ability to negotiate matters. If you have no ability to even fake empathy? Then you are constitutionally incapable of being a good negotiator. Because effective negotiating requires the ability to see the world through the other party's eyes.

No, this is not a glorification of war.

mekka okereke :verified:

@mekkaokereke@hachyderm.io · 3 months ago

You fire dudes like this, and don't think it will have an impact?

It has an impact.

Admiral Milton Sands III is a highly decorated Navy SEAL and was commander of the Naval Special Warfare Command. Basically, he was the final boss of the Navy SEALS.

He just got fired.

Listen to the respect and humility with which he and his soldiers talk about African and European military allies.

All war is awful. Civilians get hurt the most. Mostly children. This is not a glorification of war, so don't say something silly that will get you blocked.

The point is that this was just two years ago, and the way that Special Operations conducted itself and communicated, has changed that much.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=js4fen12A7k

David Chasteen

@Chasteen@hachyderm.io · 2 hours ago

@mekkaokereke as a vet who fought in Afghanistan, our record is abyssmal. We lost in Vietnam, we lost in Afghanistan, we lost in Iraq and we are clearly losing in Iran. But at least we spent more than it would have cost to do free education and medicare for all.

disorderlyf

@disorderlyf@todon.eu · 5 hours ago

@mekkaokereke If all you can do is beat people up, you have to either be physically strong enough to beat up the entire world simultaneously or the entire world will get sick of your shit and beat you up simultaneously. I'm less sure the former is even possible with every blunder.

TheJen will not comply

@TheJen@beige.party · 6 hours ago

@mekkaokereke It's Sparta, but really stupid.

firebreathingduck

@firebreathingduck@social.vivaldi.net · 8 hours ago

@mekkaokereke

Military alliances require trust and negotiated surrenders require the loser to either be desperate or else to believe the victor will honor their commitments.

The US has spent the last forty years, and especially this administration, betraying its alliances and breaking its commitments.

So any war we start, our former allies won't want to help and our opponents will see no benefit in surrendering. Iran won't surrender because they know - and they're *right* - that Trump will bomb them again as soon as the Epstein files are back in the news.

jack

@jackeric@beige.party · 8 hours ago

@mekkaokereke I went to an interesting lecture twenty years ago by General Rupert Smith, a senior commander in the British army in the 90s, on how warfare had changed from total war between nations (with uniforms and a front line) to war within nations, where the enemy is everywhere and nowhere and indistinguishable from sympathetic civilians, and just being good at shooting is no longer enough

He spoke about the theatre of war being like a dramatic theatre, with stagehands and actors and a goal of presenting a compelling narrative, to earn and build trust with the people whose country you've just deployed a tank division into

I suspect that kind of nuanced thinking may be lacking a bit now

Weird Socks

@ohmu@social.seattle.wa.us · 8 hours ago

@mekkaokereke
What I think is it sucks that folks like you and me suddenly are in the position of having to keep in consideration the "lethality" of the US military at all.