It's fun to see comic strips from before everything became instantly referencable at the push of a button. Like what are these weird Mosquito-headed hornets? I choose to believe that the artist could not be arsed to look up pictures of hornets at the library or bookstore, so they filled in (or hallucinated :D) their knowledge gaps on hornet anatomy by making stuff up.

Counterpoint: what about all the weapons used by Ukraine to defend itself and western democracy against Russian aggression and imperialism? Should those not have been made?

Edit: Editing my most top level comment to point out possible subsequent vote brigading. When this post was only half a day old I received way more upvotes than the people I debated. Now that this post has gotten older the ratio is closer to neutral without any new comments pointing to any flaws in my argument. Hence, I think my debate partners felt the need to involve their equally misled friends to downvote my arguments and upvote their previously negatively voted comments back into the positives. Seems very inorganic to me.

Edit 2: The above edit is mostly meant for my discussion thread with NeoNachtwaechter.

And what about US aggression towards parts of the EU like Greenland? You sure you want to decrease military spending against an increasingly facist super power right on your doorstep that has already openly stated to be very much interested in forcefully attaining your overseas territory? I don't think so. Pacifism, unfortunately, is dead in this new age of multilaterlism and worldwide resurging authoritarianism.

What would change without having the weapons? Nothing, other than the EU being a soft target for rivaling power blocks, inviting more war into Europe. Look at poor Ukraine. Putler thought them weak and attacked. Same power dynamics since the dawn of man.

You should also keep in mind that the EU is a supra-national federalist construct. So a sudden and all-encompassing power grab of the executive branch by the authoritarians - like the one in the US - simply isn't possible due to all participating nations still being sovereign and having their own military.

When the band starts to play your favourite song afterall.

You keep repeating the same talking points. That doesn't make them any more true. How boring of you.

I agree with you in theory, but the current reality just does not give a fuck about wishful thinking. As long as there are despots like Putin, Xi Jinping, et al., who see our democratic values as a threat to their own autocratic views we simply have to live with the fact that we have to build weapons to deter their imperialistic goals.

On one end there's rational fear of irrational authoritarian regimes, and on the other fearmongering on the basis of lies. If you cannot discern which regime uses which rhetoric, then all further discussion seems moot to me.

To add to this: The great majority of nuclear plant operators are companies with a majority stake in fossil fuels. Apparently fossil fuel is more profitable for them than nuclear. Additionally, it is much, much more cheaper (like a 1:3 cost ratio) to produce renewable energy via solar and wind than to do it via nuclear energy. Also, fissile material is non-renewable and mining sites are mostly situated in non-western regions, making us yet again dependent on energy imports. Further, nuclear energy is just not as quickly scalable as renewables, as the construction of nuclear plants usually takes around 10 years, at minimum, whilst wind and solar parks with the same output as nuclear reactors only require a couple if years. Every pro-nuclear advocate therefore effectively supports the centralized fossil fuel industry (as opposed to decentralized energy production of renewables) and fosters dependence on increasingly expensive fissle fuel imports. The cognitive dissonance by proponents towards nuclear energy simply is as deep as the money pockets of our fossil fuel overlords who are desperate to keep control of the narrative and ownership of the energy production.

The whataboutisms must flow!

Thesis + Antithesis = Synthesis Why not have both. One can appreciate the good things while also improving on the bad parts. Nobody ever should expect any system to be perfect, but rather seek its steady and never-ending improvement.

Only people that are fine with substituting mayonnaise with miracle whip in a potato salad. Ya gotta experiment if the need arises, ya know.

Good insight. Seems to fit the puzzle. I also suspect time constraints to be the biggest factor behind the "can't be arsed" part and not the artist's laziness.

Also look at the slight difference in body language. While all blue figures and the big red boss are visaulized authoritative and defiant with their hands on their hips, the equalized red figures all have slumping shoulders showing meekness. I bet even people not actively noting this will still subconciously be influenced by the negative body language of the "communists".

I dont think there is an easy solution for the lacking performance, but to force yt to use a set qulity you can use the FF addon Enhancer for YouTube (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/enhancer-for-youtube/)

No. We have been talking about the present and future threats to the EU while you choose to mostly indulge in past actions that weren't even conducted by justification of Europe's immediate security. Geopolitical concerns have fundamentally changed since then and you are now comparing rotten apples to budding oranges, calling them one and the same, which obviously they are not.

I agree, the EU isn't perfect, but it is the best the world has to offer for the future of democracy and individual freedoms. Afterall, perfect is the enemy of good.

Your first paragraph ist simply paraphrasing my entire comment, so you agree with me. Regarding your second paragraph: Then why did they attack and invade Ukraine, if it is neither a threat nor a rivaling power? Kind of looks like Ukraine having not enough arms to defend itself was one of the prime motives for Russia.

I think I am understanding you very well. You say democratic imperialism is just as bad as autocratic imperialism, creating a false balance when you agree that autocracies are inherently worse for humanity than democracies. Furthermore, Ukraine was attacked by a far more capable force than their own. They, by the very definition of imperialism, cannot be imperialistic by simply fighting for its own survival against an autocratic and clearly imperialist Russia.

Those are a lot of words for someone who has lost the argument some comments ago. Continuing to use whataboutisms and creating straw men to advance your warped view on geopolitics simply outs you as an imbecile, not worth any more effort.