SleafordMod

Potentially. I think it depends on how they're used. If a country decides to completely disarm itself though, then it's entirely possible that other countries will seek to invade and subjugate.

I think ideally there would be no nukes in the world, because they are dangerous. But nukes do exist. If western countries got rid of their nukes, then the remaining nuclear countries would be able to do what they like. "Surrender to our demands or we will nuke your cities."

Exactly. If Ukraine had their own nukes by the time of 2014, or if they had been part of NATO, then maybe Russia wouldn't have invaded Ukraine.

This reminds me of a discussion I was having with Hexbear members on Lemmy recently.

I was suggesting that perhaps it makes sense for the UK to have nukes, for self-defence against other nuclear countries like Russia, China, and potentially even the US, given their unpredictable behaviour. People from Hexbear got angry at this suggestion. One of them suggested that it's immoral to have nukes because nukes are "threatening civilians".

Maybe the OP image of this thread is right though: megalomaniacs are not deterred by words, but they are deterred by weapons (such as nukes). Ukraine was invaded because they didn't have enough deterrents. Iran is currently being bombed because I suppose they also didn't have enough deterrents.

It would be great to live in a world without nukes. But as it stands, quite a few countries have nukes. If the UK gave up its nukes then Russia or China could come along and take over the UK. "Surrender or we'll nuke you."

Why are you so upset about my posts?

I dunno what that means. Anyway what's the point of your insults? I mean I could call you a fucking idiot but is that actually productive? Maybe every time I see a post from Hexbear I should just reply "you're a moron"

The “”“protests”“” were deeply unpopular among the majority of the residents of Hong Kong

I don't think I ever read that when I read about the topic. Perhaps it could be true, but it could also not be true.

writing their protest signs in English (the most obvious tell that a “”“protest”“” is actually for the benefit of foreign audiences rather than being an organic movement of local people)

Just because they want to get the attention of English speakers, I don't think that means it's not an "organic movement of local people". In Spain there are anti-tourism protests and they write "tourists go home" in English, because they want English speakers to receive the message. That doesn't mean the protests are organised by some shadowy English speaking cabal, rather than Spaniards themselves.

In the first three days of the George Floyd uprisings, US police arrested more people than HK police had in six months.

Okay... I didn't mention the US though and I don't believe the US is a perfect country. I just think it's plausible that some people in China (whether in Hong Kong or on the mainland) want to live in a democracy. Maybe not all of them want a democracy. But some may well do.

persecuting Russian-speaking Ukrainians in the Donbas region

Is this true? I know that Russia has alleged that Ukraine did such things. Maybe there are some Ukrainians who have done such things. Russia suggests that the Ukrainian state is responsible for such persecution though, and I haven't come across anything suggesting the truth of that.

your white chauvinistic ass

You don't know what my ethnicity is. You're obviously upset about the UK for whatever reason, but that doesn't automatically mean that your views are correct or moral. All you're showing is that you're very emotional.

It's just strange that I keep seeing people from Hexbear leaping to the defence of Russia and China, and indeed repeating their propaganda points. E.g. the idea that Ukraine is a Nazi country. There are some far-right people in Ukraine for sure, just like there are in Russia, and in Germany, and in the USA, etc. But I don't think it's accurate to call Ukraine a Nazi country. I don't think their Jewish president plans to exterminate Jews, or expand the territory of Ukraine through conquest.

I think the UK is a democracy but it's a bit flawed (like every democracy I guess). I often think the UK would be more democratic if we had proportional representation.

Anyway the subject is just being changed, this is a tangent. My original point was that nukes could help the UK to defend itself. Perhaps Europe as a whole can have a shared nuclear capability, starting with British/French nukes.

they’re all gonna need to either be put in prison until they can be taught to value human life, or else be killed

Cleaners and bus drivers who work in the City of London? Even if you just mean bankers, are they as bad as rapists and murderers? I don't love bankers but I don't think that working for a bank means you need to be imprisoned or killed.

I hope you have the same level of outrage about the real civilians in Gaza that the RAF has provided over 50% of the reconnaissance overflights for

Well I think Israel should stop its bombings of Gaza. You're changing the subject though. It's completely possible for me to disagree with Israel's actions in Gaza, while also disagreeing with the idea of nuking the City of London.

any time people say something positive about the USA, do you pipe in and ask them how they feel about mass incarceration in the US, which has a far higher incarceration rate than the USSR did even in the worst parts of the purges?

I don't know if that's true about the rate, although I suppose it could be. In any case the gulags were very harsh right? I assume harsher than American prisons at the time. Anyway I'm not saying the USA is a perfect country. I was just questioning the idea that the USSR had "institutions for public wellbeing". Maybe they had some but the USSR was known as pretty oppressive.

Quantity has a quality all of its own.

That map shows Germany as having monuments for Nazi collaborators, but I don't think modern Germany is a Nazi state. It's a pretty liberal country and they even outlawed Nazi symbols right?

If all they wanted was independence and sovereignty, why do they keep putting black suns on their uniforms

I bet it's just a minority of Ukrainian soldiers who have those. I think independence and sovereignty is all they want, and it definitely seems to be what they're fighting for. Do you honestly believe they're fighting for the right to put Jews in death camps? When their elected president is himself Jewish?

as they fire pork grease laced bullets at Chechen Muslim soldiers

You can say that's not the best conduct in war, but come on. I don't think a pork-grease-laced bullet is the worst offence in the world, when Ukrainian civilians are being killed, and their children are being kidnapped by Russia. I think it's fair to criticise Ukraine for the pork bullets if you want, but that doesn't mean you should regard Ukraine as a Nazi regime - I really don't think it is one.

The current hegemonic narrative in the West is that there’s a clash of civilizations, the West and the East, where the West is white-coded and the East is the Other.

Russia invaded Ukraine. That's why many people in the West aren't big fans of the Russian state at the moment. I don't think it matters whether Russia is east of Europe, or west of Europe, or anywhere. Russia has seemingly taken other actions against western countries too, like assassinations within western countries (Alexander Litvinenko in London, Zelimkhan Khangoshvili in Berlin).

Remember that the West used to collaborate closely with Russia in the G8. I think if any member of the G8 had invaded Ukraine, they would have been kicked out of the G8. I don't think Russia has been criticised just because it's Russia, or just because it's in the east. Their government has been criticised for their actions.