President Donald Trump struggled to offer much sympathy for the families of about 100 Americans—many of them U.S. military veterans—who have died fighting in Ukraine. An estimated several thousand Americans have volunteered to fight for Ukraine since Russian dictator Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion in 2022, with at least 92 Americans killed as of September, The New York Times reported.
Following a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at Mar-a-Lago on Sunday to discuss a peace deal to end the war, Trump was asked about his message to the families of the fallen Americans. “The message is so obvious,” he replied. “What a shame. They died in a foreign country. And some are celebrated people, they’re very celebrated. But it’s so sad that a thing like that would happen.”
archive article: https://archive.is/Z6UOz#selection-1365.0-1373.10
The Media: “Dear Leader, the picture of physical and mental health, has more tough talk!”
I am once again begging people not to post a headline that starts with “Trump, 79,” that doesn’t end with. Well. You know
I kinda like it. Feels like important context. “Trump, oldest serving president, who may be suffering from cognitive decline, …”
Petition so that articles don’t start with his name and age til he’s gone.
I thought it was name and IQ, whoops.
IQ of 79 is being generous for this dipshit.
Every fucking time I see it I get excited, only to be let down by finishing the sentence
Honestly when it happens I think the servers will burst into flame from the sheer volume of memes trying to get uploaded so it’ll be like the cloudflare/AWS outages but more widespread.
Good point. I need to chill some champagne for the event.
They know what they’re doing.
I get it but I also like that it’s there as a reminder how up there he is. But I’ve assumed for a while I’ll find out about his death because I’ll reload tumblr and be confronted with a wall of crab rave gifs.
Yes. PLEASE.
why the fuck is a us citizen allowed to join a foreign military? if the us pivots and becomes allied with russia - do these murder hungry larpers become criminals or switch sides?
why the fuck is a us citizen allowed to join a foreign military?
Please, pick up a history book.
“Forgotten Veterans: The Americans who died fighting for Canada in WWII”
“Alfred Parkyn was one of nearly 9,000 Americans who volunteered to fight for Canada before the U.S. had officially entered the Second World War.”
please learn to comprehend - i did not ask for examples i asked for why they are allowed.
yes you have lots of heroes and good guys and volunteering when needed is indeed important.
volunteering for money for college? no.
i do not trust the US to not pull the rug out from these guys. so … how is this legal and allowed and what happens when the US turns its back on ukraine?
please learn to comprehend - i did not ask for examples i asked for why they are allowed.
I didn’t give you a single example to answer all of your questions. You don’t even know enough to form the right questions yet. That’s why I told you to pick up a history book.
yes you have lots of heroes and good guys and volunteering when needed is indeed important.
Thats not the takeaway from the example I gave. Its that war is murky. Geopolitics is a constant moving narrative. Its that principle can be more important than civil statute. Its that a nation of immigrants doesn’t immediately divorce itself from its prior ethnic affiliations.
i do not trust the US to not pull the rug out from these guys.
That is indeed a possible risk. You’re going to be shocked to learn about American citizens that fought for Germany in WWI, and were welcomed back to American with no hard feelings.
so … how is this legal and allowed
“allowed”? Which unit of the US government do you see chasing US citizens into a warzone to stop them?
and what happens when the US turns its back on ukraine?
Again, history book. There is no one answer. History has examples of it going both ways and no consistent answer as to what the future holds.
So again, pick up a history book and look at how prior examples of this play out for not only US citizens, but also other citizens in other nations that we in the USA drew our legal inspiration from.
Along with the reading of history, if you could check your arrogance at the door, that would be appreciated too. Starting from a place Ignorance is no crime as long as you’re looking to learn. It is possible to engage in conversations without being an asshole.
Since when is putting real bullets in real bodies larping? You’re going to be in for a rude awakening if shit gets real in your neck of the woods, while you’re convincing yourself it’s pretend others will be playing for keeps.
because war is horseshit and horrible. ukraine citizens can fight. until the US formally commits troops, US people volunteering are just fucking larping.
People choosing to fight for Ukraine are anything but larpers. They US is already allied with russia and theyve still chosen to fight for Ukraine.
right. thats my point. they are fighting for the good guys here but the US could by all “rights” rug pull and make it illegal to volunteer to another nations army. if it isnt already??
Legionnaires don’t care what a coward thinks. Go crack open a history book.
i reckon so. but those who volunteer to do war are just … doing profit making for capitalists anyway.
I know a lot of people who would want to help defend Ukraine from those cunts.
yes. want and allowed are different.
Why would they not be allowed? Anyone should be able to go defend Ukraine from scum.
why the fuck is a us citizen allowed to join a foreign military?
It’s right there in the article, they volunteered.
why. are. they. allowed?
soldier is a profession, a job. Working abroad is a thing.
If you think that government can tell people of this particular occupation what to do… Well, good luck telling a heavily armed crowd that they can’t do something. That’s a nice recipe for a coup de tat you got there. Just another cause for unnecessary infighting. Nobody wants that.
Every dictator would tell you that military is the last thing you should piss off
Does that answer your question?
Get your head out of your ass
Individuals from other countries have been volunteering in other countries since time immemorial, dude. Enough American flyers went over to help the RAF they had their own squadron long before the US officially entered WWII. Before 1917, the Lafayette Flying Corps in WWI France. Also, ever heard of the French Foreign Legion? It’s in the name. Hemingway, Spanish Civil War, the bell tolls for thee. Lord Byron fought for Greek independence from the Ottoman Empire. And untold numbers of people have joined battles in other countries, whether they were inspired by a cause or simply because they happened to be there.
i did not ask for examples i asked for why they are allowed.
yes you have lots of heroes and good guys and volunteering when needed is indeed important.
volunteering for money for college? no.
i do not trust the US to not pull the rug out from these guys. so … how is this legal and allowed and what happens when the US turns its back on ukraine? the US is happy to ICE people from Afghanistan who volunteered. What makes us so sure they’ll protect citizens who volunteered for Ukraine?
well i didnt realize it was still fully legit and as much as i am against war and doing it for profit, this kind of fight is the less worst option.
Because the law doesn’t specify they can’t
STFU.
US Citizens aren’t. Specific types of US Veterans are. Specifically those with combat experience, or training experience. Technically I could volunteer, if Ukraine had any need of a Nuclear Reactor Electronics Technician, or the instructor of said ETs. However, seeing as how they don’t have a Navy, they have no use for me, so I can’t volunteer.
As far as their loyalties, they have basically sworn a new oath to Ukraine, and are there to see it through to the end of the Russian invasion. At this point the US may as well be Narnia as far as those guys are concerned. I suspect many of them have already come to terms with the fact that they are probably only coming home in a box.
That sounds like a pretty cool job!
It had its perks, but it honestly sounds a lot cooler than it is. Navy Nuke school has the highest dropout rate of any branch of the military, mostly for psych reasons. If anyone is even considering going to Nuke school, I tell them the best thing to do is breakup with their GF or BF. If you’re not already committed enough to have already gotten married, the relationship probably won’t survive Nuke school. You basically don’t see them, and can’t really talk with them for almost 2 years
That ain’t no fucking joke. I think I know maybe 3 couples that made it through Power School and only one that are still together. One guy is married to his ex-wife’s sister though, so maybe that counts.
I had a lot of insecurity (that led to some much needed humility) there that would have tanked any relationship I had. I was used to being the smartest guy in the room. I got there and I was painfully average with very little idea of how to work hard mentally. It was a rude but necessary awakening that made me an insufferable dick privately but helped me a lot in the long run.
Also got the best advice of my life from one of the instructors in A school. Most of the administration told us not to break the rules. This guy, every time we left for the weekend, told us “be discreet”.
Didn’t realize you were a nuke. That explains the drunk part, lol.
Yep. And my best friend. I was in the class after everyone was filing down their teeth over the Vampire the Masquerade larp they were all into. My buddy was in one of the first few full classes in Goose Creek rather than down in Florida.
I’m just wrapping up school for med lab and had the same experience, it consumed every waking second of my life for 2 years, can’t wait to be free!
Why would a US citizen who decided to help another country of their own accord comply with the US governments stance?
The murder hungry larpers aren’t the people on the front line fighting back a genocidal conquest.
so seriously now it is fully legal to volunteer for another nation’s army?
Fuck what a state says is allowed or not.
If being gay was a crime. Would you report your neighbour?
of course not. the state should not exist anyway. so knowing we dont care abt that … what does one do when the rug is pulled and the US fucks its own citizens over who volunteered?
The same thing you should do today when they fuck over citizens.
You help educate others to join the cause and resist/fight back against injustice.
Always has been unless there are specific sanctions. The French have a whole foreign born legion. It’s pretty famous.
The usual offer is fight for us and become a citizen. The US even has allowances for foreign volunteers although it’s pretty strict from my understanding and we tend to renege on the deal and conveniently ICE them before having to reward them with anything.
that’s what concerned me - the US is happy, eager even, to toss those away who gave everything to help and become citizens. what is it going to do to the citizens who became ukraine volunteers when it sours on ukraine?
Here you go mate, the video I promised. By the YouTuber CivDiv.
It’s an hour long and pretty damn good. It’s probably the best video I’ve seen discussing an individuals reasons for fighting.
I also found a number of other articles and videos and a study which I’ll link to as well.
https://www.rferl.org/a/former-us-green-beret-iraq-afghanistan-ukraine-/32469454.html
thanks!
Ukraine has offered those volunteers citizenship. Maybe they won’t be able to return to the US but many won’t want to. There is fellowship to be found in war. You fight and die with those around you, you live with that fellowship. People, like me, who don’t go through that will NEVER understand.
When there is peace, as eventually there will be regardless of how long that takes, Ukraine or whatever country is there will have many veterans. They’ll have to reckon with the horrors of war, what they did and what was done to them. But they will be able to do it together.
Some will go off and fight in other wars.
Most will try to rebuild their country and themselves with it. Whether they were born in Ukraine or chose to fight for her. Many will stay because all their friendships, built over years of war, are there. They will have the respect of the general populace (look at how the US treated WWI & WWII vets) and will be glorified for their sacrifices.
But it’s not about glory, those who fight for glory give up, it’s a common theme throughout history. Ukraine isn’t fighting because they want to. It’s a fight for survival.
At first I thought you were a troll for the sake of being contrarian. But it seems like you’re coming from a place of genuine interest. So let me ask you a question: What would you fight for?
Family, friends, territory, honor, a lover? What would cause you to drop everything and go off to war? If the answer is nothing you might want to evaluate that. Maybe you’re a Ghandi devoted to nonviolence but I’d argue even Ghandi fought a war. He marched across his country and was tortured for his efforts.
While you think I’m going to find a video someone made on YouTube, a kid who went to Ukraine to fight. Kid is a bit of a funny term, he must be approaching or in his 30s now if he’s still alive. But he went off to Iraq with the US and was quickly disillusioned, then fought in Afghanistan as a volunteer for the Kurds. Now he’s in Ukraine. He has an interesting tale and an interesting perspective and his own reason for fighting. I’d try to sum it up but I’ll find the video and let him explain.
i appreciate the other post with the link. will add it to my list and watch soon.
i distrust all states. knowing that the us has fucked afghans over and started icing them… for the same help they gave us during our invasion of their lands… i cant help but wonder what will happen to the folks from the us who commit to helping ukraine. or any place for that matter - i will return to “any” in a moment.
will ukraine pull the rug and deny them citizenship? what if the us switches and starts to pull support for ukraine?
i reckon your link answers that. :)
re “any place” - look at palestine - we all KNOW israel is doing a genocide. if someone volunteers to help defend against israel, they are 100% doing the right thing BUT the us will absolutely wreck them should they return home. this isn’t an attempt at whataboutism but a direct parallel. i would 100% volunteer my services to the people of palestine - not as a fighter too old but as a first responder, sure. i’d be a “criminal” for it in the eyes of the us though.
as far as helping ukraine - i support where i can and locally that means supporting my neighbors, a family of 6, from ukraine’s capital as they adjust to american differences. 3 fighting age boys. already almost fluent. also sharing traditional food and recipes. but thats just me being hungry. 😂
It’s a long-standing tradition? And a thing in pretty much every country? Canadians volunteered in our Civil war. French and Germans volunteered in our war for independence. What do you think this is, North Korea that grips its people so tight they can barely breathe?
i think this is a capitalist hellhole and the only people who win in war is the owning class.
