• Ukrainian’s shock offensive on Russia’s Kursk region came as a surprise even to Ukraine’s soldiers.
  • “We joked that it wasn’t April 1st,” a Ukrainian soldier told The Economist.
  • The country’s troops did suspect that an invasion was imminent after they were issued new equipment.
  • Aurenkin@sh.itjust.works
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    27 days ago

    No they cannot.

    A disorderly mob is no more an army than a stack of building materials is a house.

    - Socrates

    This is even more true today as the amount of technology and co-ordination required to field a successful force is many orders of magnitude more complex. It is truly insane to suggest that people can just ‘defend themselves’ against an army unless I’m grossly misunderstanding your point.

    • index@sh.itjust.works
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      27 days ago

      No they cannot.

      People have always found ways to defend themself and have always fought against tyrants.

      • Socrates

      You are quoting someone who was fine with slavery and probably lived an aristrocratic life.

      This is even more true today as the amount of technology and co-ordination required to field a successful force is many orders of magnitude

      You may have missed the part where ukrainians were defending themself from the second biggest army in the world with homemade drones.

      Defending yourself and launching invasions or orchestrating soldiers are two different things

      • Aurenkin@sh.itjust.works
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        27 days ago

        I never claimed that defending yourself was the same as commanding an army. In fact my whole point was that it’s not. You haven’t addressed the core criticism of your post which is that a group of individuals can in no way be as effective as an army.

        Yes Ukrainians have been defending themselves with home made drones…and jets, and artillery, and air defence missiles, and … an army. That’s why there is still a Ukraine.

        “People will always find a way” is a nice sentiment but I wouldn’t bet my life or the lives of my family and countrymen on it.

        • index@sh.itjust.works
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          27 days ago

          group of individuals can in no way be as effective as an army.

          They don’t have to, their goal is to defend themself not to be the tool of same politician and invade other countries.

          “People will always find a way” is a nice sentiment

          That’s what they have been doing.

          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partisan_(military)

          • Aurenkin@sh.itjust.works
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            27 days ago

            Yes, they do have to because an army is what they’re up against. I feel like we’re living in different dimensions here or something. How do you expect a group of individuals to shoot down jets and incoming rockets, or form supply lines, or strategise at the level required to mount an effective defence, or maintain the necessary international relationships to ensure bullets keep getting delivered? That’s barely even scratching the surface.

          • Lightor@lemmy.world
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            26 days ago

            They don’t have to, their goal is to defend themself not to be the tool of same politician and invade other countries.

            Ahh ok. So you know nothing about military warfare at all. Scattered resistance against an army is nothing but cleanup. The defense needs to be organized to be effective. How are you not embarrassed saying this BS?

      • Lightor@lemmy.world
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        22 days ago

        People have always found ways to defend themself and have always fought against tyrants.

        Yeah and they have lost many times through history. What is with your constant selective memory and bringing up vague facts like this while telling others to stay on topic.

        Grade D tankie troll.