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U.S. Army secretary warned Ukraine of imminent defeat while pushing initial peace plan (www.nbcnews.com)
submitted 11 months ago by to c/worldnews@lemmy.ml
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[+] -6 points 11 months ago (6 children)

You've tried to move the goalposts twice now, by:

  • Claiming my argument is about a "call up to the front line". (I've said draft/conscription since the beginning.)
  • Claiming my argument is that an increase in conscription is happening. (I implied press-ganging was happening, and said nothing about a change in the amount of conscription happening.)

I am and have been ignoring anything you threw out that tried to weasel away from the central argument:

The Russian government is coercing (which is how press-ganging is used to mean in normal conversations; this is not an academic conference) people into military service.

Conscription/the draft already technically meets that definition, but piling on prison sentences, suspending drivers licences, banning leaving the country, and restricting bank transactions all make it clear that Russian men are being coerced into military service.

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  • [–] [S] 7 points 11 months ago (5 children)

    I have not moved the goalposts. My position has been perfectly consistent. You are misusing a loaded term to fabricate a narrative.

    Let's be crystal clear since you are struggling with the definition. Press ganging is not a synonym for conscription. It refers to the illegal and forcible impressment of individuals into military service. What that looks like is kidnapping people from streets or their homes outside of any legal framework. That's what you implied is happening in Russia, and it is a blatant falsehood.

    What you are describing in Russia is the legal process of conscription, which includes standard penalties for evasion. These penalties like fines, license suspensions, and travel bans are common consequences for dodging a mandatory draft in many nations, including many US allies. To call this press ganging is deliberate sensationalism.

    Meanwhile, in Ukraine, the very phenomenon you mistakenly accuse Russia of is a well documented reality. There have been numerous verified reports of recruiters literally grabbing men off the street and from public transport to forcibly conscript them, often without any paperwork or due process. That is what actual press-ganging looks like. It is happening there, not in Russia.

    Your argument tries to blur the line between a legal state run conscription system and outright criminal abduction. They are not the same. The goalposts have not moved. You are just trying to score a point on a field that does not exist in reality. The facts are clear, and your conflation of them is intellectually dishonest.

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  • [+] -7 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (4 children)

    That's three times now. We'll add:

    • Claiming I'm trying to "fabricate a narrative" as if there's some massive conspiracy.

    to the list.

    Do you seriously think I'm some part of some government operation to "weave a story"?

    I'm a rando on the internet who thinks Russia is coercing men who don't want to be in a war to become soldiers.

    Whether they corner them with infrastructural tactics or send armed men in unmarked vans to kidnap them off the street is immaterial.

    Whether these tactics are practiced by Russia or by "many nations, including US allies" is immaterial.

    It would be press-ganging and coercion if Ukraine did the same thing. It's press-ganging and coercion if the United States does it.

    Standing on ceremony behind a dictionary definition and whether government says it's legal is such a weird stance to take when the issue is these people don't want to serve in the military, and the government is coercing them into it.

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  • [–] [S] 8 points 11 months ago* (2 children)

    The only person inventing massive conspiracies in this conversation is you. Now you can add straw man arguments to the growing list of nonsense you are producing.

    I think you are nothing more than a troll who argues for the sake of it, without a single honest bone in your body. You are the epitome of a reddit debate bro, substituting sophistry for genuine argument in a pathetic attempt to score imaginary points. You are very transparent.

    You keep trying to conflate two entirely separate issues, a sad attempt at an argument I have already dismantled in detail. You have brought forward nothing new and you're just regurgitating the same old drivel here. Take the L and move on.

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  • [+] -8 points 11 months ago (1 child)

    I think you are nothing more than a troll who argues for the sake of it, without a single honest bone in your body. You are the epitome of a reddit debate bro

    You won't or can't address my argument above, so you switch to personal attacks.

    You introduced the word "press-gang" and tried to turn this into an argument about the dictionary definition of the word.

    You also tried to retroactively rewrite my argument. (You're not talking about the draft, you're talking about the reserves. You're not talking about the draft, you're talking about "calling up to the front line.")

    And you claim that I'm trolling?

    My position has been that Russia has been coercing citizens into military service and I've been consistent on that point.

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  • [–] [S] 5 points 11 months ago

    I literally addressed your 'argument' in detail, and you just continued to double down on your bullshit. You're a troll, and an artless one at that. You're not fooling anybody here.

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