4 ms·

Russian military maybe.

by hypertele-Xii 4y ago

aa-jv 4y ago
Name an exception to the rule in the modern era. There isn't one.
- ben_w 4y ago
  A quick search says that's been considered a war crime since Nuremberg, so probably most in the modern era are exceptions. Not all but most, the test I would apply is: do the militaries take accusations of this seriously, or flatly deny them?
- jcranmer 4y ago
  Do you want me to go alphabetically? Albania, Andorra, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Austria, Bahamas, Barbados, Belgium, Belize, Bhutan. There's 10 countries, I'm not even out of the B's yet, and this is still skipping any country for which I think anyone might try to argue for the military's main focus to be to "loot and plunder other countries," not whether I agree with that assertion. Hell, I excluded armies whose main focus could arguably be to loot and plunder its own country rather than other countries (hi, Algeria). And note that there a more countries on my list in this alphabet range than not on the list. Truly, there are more exceptions than examples to your proposed rule in the modern era, a very far cry from "there isn't one" indeed.
  - aa-jv 4y ago
    Its not a matter of having the will to do it, its a matter of having the ability. The Austrian military orients its war plans around the plunder of Austria - i.e. to minimize the damage of other militarys' plundering the nation. There isn't any other purpose for a military than to manage this factor, either as aggressors or as defenders. Pillage and plunder is what militaries have always done, and prepared for ...
- clucas 4y ago
  To my knowledge, the U.S. military has not been used for looting and plundering in the modern era. If you are going to say "but Iraq 2003!" I would ask you to consider the money we spent funding that expedition vs. the supposed financial gain. The reasons to invade weren't great, but looting and plundering were not among them.
  - hulitu 4y ago
    Now the military only paves the road for other companies to do the job.
    - clucas 4y ago
      If you took all the reasons the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003 and had to assign assign percentages for how much each one contributed to the decision to invade, what value would you assign to "securing lucrative contracts for defense and oil companies"?
      - aa-jv 4y ago
        [x] Protect the Petrodollar from any potential sovereign threat.
  - googlryas 4y ago
    It's also a shame when I hear smart people say Iraq was "about the oil"(a response I'm anticipating for your post). If it was about the oil, it doesn't really make sense that America "let" Russia, China, and a whole other slew of non-US-aligned states get into Iraq to run oil operations there. If it were really about the oil, wouldn't America have locked down Iraq so only we could benefit from it, and not Russia and China?
    - aa-jv 4y ago
      It is about the petrodollar, a subject for which oil is merely a factor. Anyone who has attempted to wean the world off the petrodollar has found themselves deposed, assassinated, or otherwise eradicated from Western history.

Russian military maybe.

aa-jv 4y ago

Name an exception to the rule in the modern era. There isn't one.

ben_w 4y ago
A quick search says that's been considered a war crime since Nuremberg, so probably most in the modern era are exceptions. Not all but most, the test I would apply is: do the militaries take accusations of this seriously, or flatly deny them?
jcranmer 4y ago
Do you want me to go alphabetically? Albania, Andorra, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Austria, Bahamas, Barbados, Belgium, Belize, Bhutan. There's 10 countries, I'm not even out of the B's yet, and this is still skipping any country for which I think anyone might try to argue for the military's main focus to be to "loot and plunder other countries," not whether I agree with that assertion. Hell, I excluded armies whose main focus could arguably be to loot and plunder its own country rather than other countries (hi, Algeria). And note that there a more countries on my list in this alphabet range than not on the list. Truly, there are more exceptions than examples to your proposed rule in the modern era, a very far cry from "there isn't one" indeed.
- aa-jv 4y ago
  Its not a matter of having the will to do it, its a matter of having the ability. The Austrian military orients its war plans around the plunder of Austria - i.e. to minimize the damage of other militarys' plundering the nation. There isn't any other purpose for a military than to manage this factor, either as aggressors or as defenders. Pillage and plunder is what militaries have always done, and prepared for ...
clucas 4y ago
To my knowledge, the U.S. military has not been used for looting and plundering in the modern era. If you are going to say "but Iraq 2003!" I would ask you to consider the money we spent funding that expedition vs. the supposed financial gain. The reasons to invade weren't great, but looting and plundering were not among them.
- hulitu 4y ago
  Now the military only paves the road for other companies to do the job.
  - clucas 4y ago
    If you took all the reasons the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003 and had to assign assign percentages for how much each one contributed to the decision to invade, what value would you assign to "securing lucrative contracts for defense and oil companies"?
    - aa-jv 4y ago
      [x] Protect the Petrodollar from any potential sovereign threat.
- googlryas 4y ago
  It's also a shame when I hear smart people say Iraq was "about the oil"(a response I'm anticipating for your post). If it was about the oil, it doesn't really make sense that America "let" Russia, China, and a whole other slew of non-US-aligned states get into Iraq to run oil operations there. If it were really about the oil, wouldn't America have locked down Iraq so only we could benefit from it, and not Russia and China?
  - aa-jv 4y ago
    It is about the petrodollar, a subject for which oil is merely a factor. Anyone who has attempted to wean the world off the petrodollar has found themselves deposed, assassinated, or otherwise eradicated from Western history.