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.”

  • Pennomi@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    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.

    • Hlodwig@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      Thats not true at all, its not like farm husbandry, human do not just bred like animals. Only a fraction of women would be willing to have kids without a long term partner.

      • Danquebec@sh.itjust.works
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        1 day ago

        I think there are no absolutes here. Some women will wait for a long term partner, and a fraction of that group will have children by accident before finding one, and some other women don’t wait for one (especially in a context where men don’t abound), etc. What women do overall is the amalgation of millions of specific biographies concerning unique women.

      • AllNewTypeFace@leminal.space
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        2 days ago

        Societies where there is a high male mortality rate adapt. Iceland apparently has had its uncommonly accepting view of single motherhood for centuries, stemming from the large proportion of the male population employed in fishing, and the dangerous nature (in those days) of going to sea meaning that it was not uncommon for fathers to die before their children.

        • Hlodwig@lemmy.world
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          2 days ago

          They adapt by having more children per couples, not by having more single mother families. At least that was the case after WWII and WWI, but nowadays couples cannot afford more than 2 or 3 children.

          And single mother in iceland is totally different, they were a couple with children before the husband died.

      • commander@lemmings.world
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        2 days ago

        Only a fraction of women would be willing to have kids without a long term partner.

        Have you seen the real world? Women who are willing to wait until a stable man comes along to have children with him are the exception, not the rule.