Donald Tusk told parliament on Friday that if Russia took control of parts of Ukraine, then Poland would find itself in a “difficult geographical situation.”
He said: “We are preparing large-scale military training for every adult man in Poland. Our goal is to finalize the plan by year’s end to ensure a well-trained reserve force ready for potential threats.
“If Ukraine loses the war, or if it accepts the terms of peace, armistice, or capitulation in such a way that weakens its sovereignty and makes it easier for Putin to gain control over Ukraine, then without a doubt—and we will all agree on this—Poland will find itself in a much more difficult geopolitical situation.”
Talking to reporters, Tusk later clarified that he was not announcing a resumption of basic military service.
“If I were proposing a return to basic military service, I would say so. We have several models. One of the most appreciated ones is the Swiss model,” he said, adding that in the latter system training is “not compulsory, but there are incentives that cause men to opt for annual training.”
It wouldn’t hurt. It would sure enough get me back in shape.
In all seriousness: I truly believe it would not hurt to put everyone through some sort of basic training, including gun handling.
There’s a lot of things that could be included in such a program that would be useful for the general population to know both in times of war and in peace. Civil defense and emergency response. First aid, evacuation of wounded/incapacitated people from dangerous areas. Basic firefighting, shelter locations and evacuation protocols etc.
So I’m not in… horrible shape but certainly haven’t been exercising recently. The thought did cross my mind of starting again, just in case of complete societal collapse. Never thought id see the day where that was an ACTUAL possibility.
Honestly pretty good idea, way better than mandatory service/conscription. Training with no strings attached.
Hehe no strings attached except they know where to find you when more cannon fodder is necessary.
I like Europe and Poland but Im not dying for some suit wearing men. I consider myself free because that’s what they told me in school.
As a pole I absolutely agree, I don’t want to die for the ruling class, however I’m also willing to be taught how to defend myself and others against fascist agression for free by the state.
It might be useful against russian fascists, but not only them if you know what I mean 🙃
Edit: about that first point - every man in poland has to pass a military classification anyways when they’re about 16 and get assigned an ability score for eventual conscription in war, so the list is already there. It might even prevent conscription because there will likely be more volunteers.
So where are you moving?
Right now Im going to stay home.
edit: responded to wrong comment
Im polish, I can’t imagine living in the US right now.
Why just men? Yes, men are generally stronger than women, but that doesn’t mean women are not capable of military service. And there are also men who aren’t capable of something like that.
Note: I’m against being forced into military service, just asking this
From a repop level men are more desposible than women. Which is funny cause women are second class citizens often. To clarify, 1 woman can only produce on avg 1 child per year. While a man can do far more than that. So if male pop dropped from a wierd disease or war its recoverable. Not ideal obviously from a genetic level but far better than if women population got cut in half. That would cause tons of problems.
Whilst this in theory may hold, people are social animals that live in societies with rules and norms and that typically have only one partner. If half your male population dies, you’re not gonna have guys go around having sex with multiple women just to make up the difference, you’re just gonna have a lot of single women.
Alternatively, there could just be a ton of single moms. I have seen that first hand. Males on my dad side are the worst. Dozen of kids each with multiple women globally. I Doubt I’ll ever be able to meet all my half siblings. But I 100% agree that my statement is purely numbers and takes 0 consideration on human emotions. Which is typical how wars are fought. 0 regard for the peasants feelings.
“Breed you dogs! I need meat for the orphan crushing machine”
Maybe because they don’t want to send their whole population to the meat grinder?
From a different article:
“Of course, it will be open to both sexes,” added the prime minister. “I do not want to belittle the role of women here in any way, but war – due to physical conditions – is associated more with men.”
Ah, that’s fair. Thanks!
The reality of it is that men are expendable, from a population standpoint. Birth rates are far more limited by the number of women than the number of men, since pregnancy and gestation takes so long.
Obviously this is over reductive, but it’s one way to approach the question.
In the rogue state of Israel, it’s required for “both sexes”.
The only democracy in the Middle East.So I don’t see problem with it. More like a sexism problem.
EDIT: It’s “not compulsory”, so != conscription.
They need an army of pawns and believe men suit better the job.
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The unfortunate reality of being close to Russia.
As a citizen of Canada, this has become relatable.
With a madman in charge may even be worse.
The mere existence of russia is causing people of EU so much… All the money making shit that explode, people’s time wasted on defence training, nations on rhe border living in constant stress.
What a cancer on this world.
I wonder if this applies to people with residency
