Germany votes to bring in voluntary military service programme for 18-year-olds

The article is using "voluntary" in a very questionable fashion.

> Germany's parliament, the Bundestag, has voted to introduce voluntary military service...

> The form will be mandatory for men and voluntary for women.

> The government says military service will be voluntary for as long as possible, but from July 2027, all 18-year-old men will have to take a medical exam to assess their fitness for possible military service.

> a form of compulsory military service could be considered by the Bundestag.

Well, that escalated quickly. There's nothing here that could be really described as "voluntary".

> The form will be mandatory for men and voluntary for women.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_men_are_created_equal

Military service was only recently abolished in Germany. And compared to the old system, this one would qualify as voluntary for now. This might not remain that way, but that's probably an issue to discuss if and when that happens. There's all kinds of other challenges at that point, and I think at that point challenges based on fairness could be valid (as only some people are drafted, not everyone).

One, I'm not sure what American founding ideals have to do with Germany.

Two, Germany, like most countries and frankly human populations, has a male surplus in its fighting-age population [1]. This is why, historically, large socities tended to wage war with men first. (Even those that e.g. held elite units in reserve, which undermines the usual biological argument.)

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Germany#/media...

The male surplus is a few tens of thousands, way to small to make up an army; and no, that is not the reason why men and not women go to war.

> Military service was only recently abolished in Germany.

Military service was never abolished in Germany. It was only suspended in 2011 (and lots of people were celebrating even this small improvement).

Registration is compulsory, but actual military service is voluntary (for now).

In other words, it's functionally the same as Selective Service forms in the US.

> make surplus is a few tens of thousands, way to small to make up an army

...why would you populate your army solely with the surplus? The point is you have a buffer that you can burn without immediately impacting your demographics for the long term.

> that is not the reason why men and not women go to war

It's a serious theory [1]. (It's more correct to say the surplus and it share a common cause.)

[1] https://link.springer.com/rwe/10.1007/978-3-319-19650-3_931

All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.

> There's nothing here that could be really described as "voluntary".

that's the same "voluntary" they use for Chat Control, by the way.

>mandatory for men and voluntary for women.

this is what "patriarchy" actually looks like but you sure won't see anybody on the left complain about that....

The reason for war has always been to kill off young men, since they are disposable fertility wise and an internal threat to current holders of power. This has been the case since the stone age and will be the case until the end of time.

For the past decade or more, the people that drone on about male privilege were arguing conscription would never happen again so it didn't matter. They knew they were telling a lie then, they'll just come up with a new one now.

Plenty of people are complaining, and we currently have a right-wing government. Your username is quite apt.

I think he is saying nobody on the left is complaining about how it is mandatory for men, but voluntary for women making it a sexist policy. People might be complaining about it is happening overall, but not about the sexist part.

>has a male surplus in its fighting-age population

The "male surplus fighting-age population" in Germany will flee to the next European host or back to the MENA country they fled from if conscription begins.

That was the topic of T.H.E.M. by G.C. Edmonson (or so I remember -- I read the translation "Die A.N.D.E.R.E.N." many years ago).

Made for a good story, reality is a bit more complex methinks. There's after all a lot of money to be made with war.

>currently have a right-wing government

just no. Maybe next election when the AFD wins which also happens to be against this.

No, this is what the constitution looks like. The current government doesn't have the necessary majority to change the constitution.

> Wenn man keine Ahnung hat, einfach mal Fresse halten.

- Konrad Adenauer (1969)

Every leftist org ive interacted with places cis-males basically lower status than anyone else. Ive even had that used around me as a slur, almost like they dont really understand.

Attacking people just because they are cis- and AMAB (assigned male as birth) isn't bad. Its your actions that determine good or bad.

And, throwing men into a potential meat grinder of war is unethical. Frankly, it should all be actual volunteer, and not this doublespeak shit of voluntarily required.

Theres also this now public problem. Do trans-women count as men or women? And do trans-men count as men or women? The best answer is "volunteer". But governments are weird, especially the conservative/fascist adjacent ones.

Money is nothing but a representation of power. If it was about money itself, rulers could just print limitless amounts (which they have tried a number of times).

Seems to be that whether it's mandatory or voluntary is based on one's sex, not on any sort of identity.

Which makes sense otherwise a lot of males would be able to opt out by claiming that they are women in their minds or souls or in enactment of gendered stereotypes or whatever it could possibly mean to identify as the opposite sex.

Men are the ones used as cannon fodder mostly because from a reproductive point of view they are more disposable. They also tend to be physically stronger so are more suited to many combat roles that require raw strength.

We just pretended the genders were equal in a time of plenty now time to face the reality.

You really don't understand a lot of things you are talking about.