queermunist she/her

No no I think his name is Lil Marco

My intention was to point out that Portugal does not face any threats and your argument seems to be “well they murdered all those people in the colonial wars, what if they need to murder indigenous resistance fighters again huh?!”

You just love Portugal’s colonial history I guess and want to relive it.

My intention was to say that Portugal has not faced military threats. The fact that it was involved in unjust colonial wars is, in fact, a reason they shouldn’t be allowed to have jets.

And no, I don’t want them to waste money on military boondoggles that could be used to help actual people.

I’d also happily argue against ground-based assets, they don’t need tanks either! They need tools for enforcing their naval sovereignty and fighting pirates and such, but fighter jets aren’t really the best tools for those jobs.

Also, I acknowledged that fulfilling obligations is necessary. They don’t need new fighter jets for that. Besides, if we reach the point where Russia invades NATO it’s just going to rapidly escalate to nukes and then we’ll all die anyway so 🤷‍♀️

This is just Portugal giving away their own people’s money to businesses in other countries.

They could also not have a fleet of jets and they’d be fine.

Ah shit, I said “continental” in a different comment. I mispoke here, you’re right.

I still don’t see how the colonial wars are an argument for Portugal having jets. Those wars were unjustified and Portugal deserved to lose every single one.

I said “continental” for a reason, don’t talk down to me. I’m also pretty sure Portugal didn’t face any danger at all during those wars. In fact, those wars are actually an argument for not allowing Portugal to have jets!

Okay, but actually attacking them on the far western tip of the continent would require going past the rest of the EU/NATO bloc. That’s just not realistic. The most they might ever deal with is piracy, and they don’t need jets for that.

Fulfilling obligations is obviously necessary, but they don’t need new jets. This is obviously just military Keynesianism.

Ukraine was surrounded by conflcits long before it was invaded. Portugal hasn’t seen conflict for almost a hundred years.

They are not comparable.

Portugal could never buy enough jets to stop the US. They need nukes. Not a ton! Just a few is enough to scare away other powers.

As for Russia, they’re literally the farthest country in Europe from them! Getting to Portugal would mean Europe has collapsed and can’t stop Russia, and once again, the only defense here would be nukes.

Okay, but every People have a right to demand their government spend money on social programs and not military boondoggles. Ultimately, what do the Portuguese want? Do they want more jets?

Point. However, the only realistic defense from the US empire is to rely on the nuclear arms from their allies or build their own nukes. Nothing else really matters.

They need an air force to stop me?

Damn I didn’t realize I was so powerful!

The comparison doesn’t really make sense, Eastern Europe has seen conflict since the 90s: the Yugoslav Wars, the Transnistria conflict, the Georgian–Ossetian conflict, the Chechen-Russian conflict, etc. etc.

Continental Western Europe hasn’t seen conflict for almost a hundred years. The closest conflict was the Troubles in the British Isles.

Who does Portugal need to defend themselves from?

To stay sovereign from who? Who’s coming for Portugal?

I think you’ll run into the three body problem.

Yeah, they’re not meek or cowards.

They bravely stand up to their own base.

Why the hell does Portugal need an air force? Is Russia going to cross the entire continent to attack them? Is Morocco going to launch an invasion through the straight of Gibraltar?

Cool use of money.

I heard an interesting theory that the stupid tariffs on Canada are intended to destroy their economy and force them to surrender their sovereignty to the US. He doesn’t care if his threats trigger nationalist backlash because he thinks Canada is so dependent on the US that they can’t resist.

I’m not sure he actually has a plan, but if there is a plan I could see it as a play for conquest.

Children definitely won’t help Ukraine resist, that’s a good point. Women with children can still work, though. Many do, in fact!