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Australia’s Mothballed F/A-18 Hornets Should Be Given to Ukraine
- brucethemoose2 3y agoIts not just F18s. Western militaries have hilariously large stockpile of old hardware (usually missiles/guns/weapons or logistics vehicles, not weapons platforms like the F18) that are just sitting there, rotting in storage. It makes no sense to me. Its not like theres a taboo against arming Ukraine anymore, or that the US is going to ever need 10,000 old air-to-air missiles.
- the-dude 3y agoAre you saying it is a shame weapons are going to waste?
- xen2xen1 3y agoIf someone's life is on the line, right now, yes.
- the-dude 3y agoI remember in the 70s, early 80s, we had Pacifist Political parties here in Western Europe. And while they disappeared, endless war emerged.
- awnird 3y agoPresumably they were offering themselves to walk into the Rashist execution chambers (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bucha_massacre https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bucha_massacre)? Or was that fate only considered for other people?
- whinenot 3y agoThey're going to be decommissioned eventually, giving them to Ukraine just speeds up the decommissioning process and saves taxpayers money. A Win-Win for everyone save some Wagner mercenaries and unfortunate mobiks.
- the-dude 3y agoAre you at peace promoting more violence?
- morkalork 3y agoThe sooner the war ends, the sooner the violence stops. If Russia wants to promote peace, they can leave anytime.
- whinenot 3y ago"He needed killing" is a valid defense in limited circumstances.
- tomohawk 3y agoAre you at peace letting Putin rape and pillage his way across Ukraine and any other country he decides to go after? Using force to stop someone from using violence against you is not the same as using violence to get your way.
- CogitoCogito 3y agoHelping a people defend themselves against violence is basically the polar opposite of promoting violence.
- brucethemoose2 3y agoYes! The West pretty much decided that Russia invading Ukraine is "bad," and if they want to be pacifist or anti interventionalist then they need to commit to that instead. Otherwise, there's no point in holding back low cost support because of the 0.1% chance these countries will need their massive land war surplus. That is incredibly selfish, and for Europeans in particular, it cleary isn't necessary for any opponent they would border (like Russia) in a defensive war.
- water554 3y agoHow about we encourage deescalation and negotiations instead
- tomohawk 3y agoHasn't that been tried for the past many years, many times already? Putin invaded Ukraine in 2014 and took a big chunk. There was lots of talking encouraging of deescalation and what happened? Putin went for the head shot, attempting to take over the whole country. As far as he's concerned, the only deescalation is when he controls all of Ukraine, and also any other countries or parts of countries where he's issued people Russian passports.
- guidedlight 3y agoThe article says that the US needs to provide re-export permission. It’s likely this won’t be granted. Given Australia is an extremely close US ally, it’s likely these particular F/A-18’s contain top secret components that are not authorised for export to Ukraine. They also may be stored in an airworthy condition, as a tactical solution for any major escalation in the APAC region.