World News
A community for discussing events around the World
Rules:
-
Rule 1: posts have the following requirements:
- Post news articles only
- Video links are NOT articles and will be removed.
- Title must match the article headline
- Not United States Internal News
- Recent (Past 30 Days)
- Screenshots/links to other social media sites (Twitter/X/Facebook/Youtube/reddit, etc.) are explicitly forbidden, as are link shorteners.
-
Rule 2: Do not copy the entire article into your post. The key points in 1-2 paragraphs is allowed (even encouraged!), but large segments of articles posted in the body will result in the post being removed. If you have to stop and think "Is this fair use?", it probably isn't. Archive links, especially the ones created on link submission, are absolutely allowed but those that avoid paywalls are not.
-
Rule 3: Opinions articles, or Articles based on misinformation/propaganda may be removed.
-
Rule 4: Posts or comments that are homophobic, transphobic, racist, sexist, anti-religious, or ableist will be removed. “Ironic” prejudice is just prejudiced.
-
Posts and comments must abide by the lemmy.world terms of service UPDATED AS OF OCTOBER 19 2025
-
Rule 5: Keep it civil. It's OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It's NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
-
Rule 6: Memes, spam, other low effort posting, reposts, misinformation, advocating violence, off-topic, trolling, offensive, regarding the moderators or meta in content may be removed at any time.
-
Rule 7: We didn't USED to need a rule about how many posts one could make in a day, then someone posted NINETEEN articles in a single day. Not comments, FULL ARTICLES. If you're posting more than say, 10 or so, consider going outside and touching grass. We reserve the right to limit over-posting so a single user does not dominate the front page.
We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.
All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.
Lemmy World Partners
News !news@lemmy.world
Politics !politics@lemmy.world
World Politics !globalpolitics@lemmy.world
Recommendations
For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/
- Consider including the article’s mediabiasfactcheck.com/ link
view the rest of the comments
If you were to throw a rock or fire a bullet, you are expected to LOOK where that projectile is going. You are held accountable for that action even if you miss your target. Only a child is deemed unaccountable for that sort action (up to about age 2). This is magnitudes more important when the missile explodes in a radius the size of a house. So there's NO EXCUSE for the grunt on any level who pushes the button, and doesn't LOOK or know where it is going. Are you saying military grunts are to tried as toodlers?!? for the crimes they commit?
They weren't throwing rocks. They weren't shooting a rifle. They were shooting missiles.
Again, the soldier who fired that missile would have no idea what sort of building he's been ordered to strike. That soldier is sitting in a command center somewhere, miles away from the front line, feeding coordinates into a targeting system.
And, yes, grunts are usually treated EXACTLY like toddlers, especially in military court. That's why they're called "grunts". They are trained to follow orders. They are trained to push the button without question. THAT'S THEIR JOB.
Now, if a grunt is given an order which directly violates the military law, they can refuse. So, if their commanding officer said "Hey, I want you to kill those 170 underage civilians", then the grunt can (and should) say "Hell no, sir". That wasn't the case here. There's no reason for the grunt to refuse the order, because the grunt is just targeting a building, with a missile.
Can you not see why that is the problem?
If your commanding officer tells you to fire anywhere, you should be expected to know where that is. Obviously "grunts" should have some kind of visual access to the target they are firing at, so they can decide for themselves if it is a military law crime. Otherwise you are just preforming the Milgram shock experiment with real consequences.
I can't speak for what actually happens, or what even what SOP in the armed forces might be in this situation.
SO..I googled it. Here's the levels of complexity involved in a Tomahawk missle strike:
Command and Authorization (Top-Down Flow)
Authorization: The process starts with a decision by the President, often passed through the National Security Council to the Secretary of Defense, and then to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Command Channel: The Joint Chiefs convey the order to a regional commander (e.g., U.S. Central Command or Indo-Pacific Command). Execution Order: The regional commander transmits the target information and engagement requirements to the specific launch platforms (ships or submarines).
Transmitting the Order to the Specialist
Secure Communications: The order is sent via secured, encrypted digital communications to the vessel's Tomahawk Strike Coordinator (TSC) or equivalent senior operator. TTWCS Integration: The data is directly integrated into the Tactical Tomahawk Weapons Control System (TTWCS) on board. Mission Planning: The TTWCS allows the crew to plan the route or receive pre-planned, digital target coordinates, known as a Missile Sequence Number (MSN) task.
Action by the Specialized Operator (Launch Team)
Mission Assignment: The firing platform's operators receive a digital tasker, which includes primary and sometimes backup assignments. Validation: Specialists on the bridge/combat center verify the target and launch authorization. Targeting Data Entry: The TTWCS is updated with the new target data, which may include GPS coordinates. Block IV missiles can be reprogrammed in-flight, but the launch command requires pre-defined parameters. Launch Sequence: The operators execute the final launch sequence, which involves the missile being ejected by a solid-fuel booster from the Vertical Launching System (VLS).
SO, at which point should the crew have refused the order? Where does the blame lay?
Me thinks the lady doth protest too much. Did something like this happen to you or someone you know? It did indeed happen to a couple of my family members, but that doesn't make it excusable. Growing up in a military city has taught me there is no end to the amount of technical mumbo-jumbo an organization will come up with to dodge accountability for an immoral act.
They assist their grunts in this accountability-dodging too, for better compliance (so they don't go home and shoot themselves). The better part of them choose to drink themselves to death anyways because they know, deep down, that what they have done is wrong regardless of how many loopholes you try and bake in to the process.
This is why the PROCESS needs to change. We need to find some way to give them the information they need, the accountability, AND the permission to deny orders without repercussion.
Dunno what to tell ya. The process is what it is. What we are seeing is a failure of of the entire system of checks and balances. The legislative and judicial branches refuse to reign in the executive branch. IMHO, our Congress members and Supreme Court are more culpable for those girls' deaths than the soldier who fired that missile.
Nuremberg defense. They were just following orders. I hope they learn what they did. That's enough for anybody to unalive themselves.