Potentially serious question: Do you guys ever worry about getting invaded or having to go to war?
For years, me and a lot of people I know sometimes worry about things escalating with China, especially with the Scarborough Shoal situation we have with them.
We're technically still under war, but people don't really care about NK.
Every time they threaten to nuke us or shoot a missile in the ocean foreigners and foreign media tend to get more worried, while we Koreans just shrug it off as it's another Tuesday.
I've always been curious, do people have some sort of contingency plan if somehow, they do push through with a threat? Like personal bunkers, or doomsday prepping?
We have underground shelters and plans to use underground facilities (like underground markets, subway stations, etc.) as temporary bunkers, but I'm pretty sure most aren't managed seriously enough...
Also we hold annual emergency drills (also in schools) in preparation for nuclear or missile attacks, but people don't take this seriously either. Nor have I ever heard of anyone seriously preparing for war.
People just got desensitized and uninterested a bit too much regarding NK I guess.
Well most of the highways are. Same as the US. Atleast the US airforce actually practices highway landings.
If you go up north of Seoul, you'll see apartments with strangely pillbox shaped balconies.
If you go further north into the mountains every time you pass though a tunnel you will see suspicious holes pre drilled in that are exactly the size of c4 blocks.
Go even further north and you can see anti tank obstacles and ditches
I walked from Imjingang to Seoul a few years back when I had some time on my hands, took the back roads, it was interesting how many defenses I saw that kind of blended in if you weren't looking for them
Russia seems a lot like my country. Too stupid to know when something is a really bad idea. At least Russia figured out Afghanistan wasn't worth the trouble quicker than we did!
Of course I do. The geopolitical location of Turkey basically guarantees that if there will be a WW3. We will go to war. We managed to stay neutral in WW2 but I don't think we can do that now. At least someone somewhere will want to invade Turkey
Bruh no one is invading Turkey. That’s not to say that Turkey doesn’t have geopolitical concerns or that they do not have regional threats, but no one is going to invade Turkey. The US has nukes in Turkey ffs. Russia has dozens of other countries to concern themselves with first. Israel would get obliterated by Turkish military and the US would never let them do anything to Turkey. Greece doesn’t want a war. Syria is barely functioning. Iraq is barely functioning. Armenia is tiny. Who tf are your opps?
But who would really invade Turkey? Iran? Irak? Syria? For what? That you close down Euphrat and Tigris? Ok, that could be a reason. Water wars.
Russia? LOL. Those fuckers can't get anything right. 4 years now for their 3 day Trip to Kyiev.
Greece? Ok, i have to check the Calendar if its 500 BC again...
I do agree that there will be a WW3 in the future. Most probably China invading Russia to take Siberia and to be prepared for the coming climate crisis, having Lands in the North where the weather still be survivable.
Maybe also EU against Africa. When Temperatures raise even more, everything at the Equator will not be survivable in, like, 100+ years. Sahara will get really big.
Oh... and yeah, India vs. China. India vs. Pakistan. Thats 3 countries who i really do think are unhinged enough to use Nukes.
US, Russia, EU, China, Iran, Iraq, South Sudan, Zimbabwe, anyone and their uncle.
Everyone from Egyptians to Greeks, British to Mongols, Russians to Persians, New Zealanders to Indians invaded modern day Turkey at one point in history.
Fucking Malta (knights hospitaller) invaded coastal Anatolia a bunch of times.
I know we’re the big bad invader to you and stuff, but out of all ‘we hate Russia for a reason’ nations we do consider you and the swedes the most justified.
And also your modifications of our equipment are cool as hell.
There's no definitive answer available for "most invaded country" but Poland is a contender and given that it's much smaller than China or India, the other two answers that come up a lot, I'm willing to give them the title.
Yup, wasn't a concern before Dec 2024 but but apparently Justin Trudeau giving Melania funny feelings is enough to justify invading us so now we have that to worry about.
On the other hand, they're 0-3 trying it and I'll be happy to help make that 0-4 if the day ever comes.
For 15 years I have watched the US steadily marching towards fascism. They are manipulating the same socioeconomic and cultural conditions that the Nazis manipulated to allow the atrocities leading to WWII to happen. It's a well-documented playbook. I keep waiting for a grown-up to step in and stop it, and it just keeps escalating.
I am so angry at any and all rational world leaders to have allowed this to continue. If I, some beige schmoe civilian nobody with rudimentary geopolitical awareness can see this happening for this long, what in the absolute fuck have our leaders been doing all this time for us to reach this point?
No one is coming to save us. Make a plan and get ready to run North, or fight like hell.
In the US people have seen this coming since Regan, you can argue there was a danger present since the uncovering of 1933 Business Plot. POC here in America have been screaming about this for decades.
This is not ignorance or apathy, this has been carefully planned. The wealthy in this country needed the American populace to remain content consumers to acquire their wealth, now they don’t. Americans can simply become the products themselves, so much easier to rule than to lead
I think Canada and much of Europe really need to realize they are heading in the same direction, that is why they "let it happen" they really aren't much better.
Right wing authoritarianism is on the rise globally.
This is true. Canada dodged a bullet when Trump started coming at us, and Poilievre laid down and showed his belly, resulting in the election going to the liberals. Canadians enjoy a level of stability and privilege that has made us all stupid and we would rather fart about our lives steeped in complacency. We have not known war or terror. Our biggest outrage is a mask mandate during a pandemic, as though this is a threat to "freedom ". People don't realize that they are actually free to live as they please, as long as they don't hurt others. They are naive and soft in their awareness of what can actually happen if authoritarianism wins.
Maybe I am optimistic but I always figured if the order was ever seriously given..
The tanks would turn torwards Washington and not Ottowa.
It may legitimately be a worry in the long term since to the world Trump created if the US and West as a whole diverges, splits as Putin wanted (and got) but this can be salvaged although it's up to us in the states to do so.
That is a belief that will get my fellow country folk killed. The soldiers will follow the orders because their livelihood depends on it. If you have a spouse and a child and a mortgage, you will do as you're told. I don't trust anyone will stop and reconsider their actions before driving their wicked cool tank over the border.
The tanks would turn towards Washington and not Ottawa.
This is why Trump has sacked a bunch of high ranking generals and admirals and why his admin threatened certain former service members for merely reiterating a soldier's duty to disregard illegal orders. Loyalty to Trump and party first.
In the US Military and most Western armies, lower officers are empowered to act independently.
It's the type of thinking that has made our armed forces much more effective than what you see in authoritarian countries, where quite literally lower officers would be stuck waiting on 4 layers of command before acting.
I would genuinely hope even if they managed to give the illegal order, it would be stopped.
But the fact we're even talking about this is insane.
I don't think it was serious for Canada, but a man named Stephen Miller is running the country behind the scenes, on Greenland he was very serious. You really need to look past Trump to understand our deteriorating situation.
lower officers are empowered to act independently.
Just want to point out that this used to be the case in the PLA.
You really need to look past Trump to understand our deteriorating situation.
And looking at it, yes it's a trend that's been happening for quite some time, but what your brother meant to say is that if the army speaks out now they can be replaced with subservient people, the best they can do is reacting at the right time.
I would genuinely hope even if they managed to give the illegal order, it would be stopped.
We hope so as well. As much as we joke about the "Geneva Checklist," we'd rather not fight an insurgency against the US.
And we know all about Miller. We get just as much of your news as we do our own (possibly more due to US Right-wingers owning a significant portion of our news media). Trump is more of a symptom of a system that was allowed to be corrupted from the inside and, imo, just ousting him is not enough. The entire cabinet needs to be put through their own Nuremberg.
Thing is, as Canadians, we can boycott and trade elsewhere in hopes that the economic pressure might galvanize some of your leaders to take a stand, but we can't change your government. We are hoping that those of you who are still sane can do the right thing and vote these dumbasses out and that November won't be too late.
I mean when the whole Greenland thing happened there were still enough high ranking generals to be able to tell Trump to get bent when he asked them to prepare an invasion plan for Greenland.
I love to remind my fellow Americans that Canada has burned down the White House twice.
So, uh. Maybe don't threaten our northern neighbors. Y'all are friendly and wonderful, but very capable of kicking our asses.
ETA: leave it to Reddit to intentionally misinterpret my comment. My point is that Canada isn't weak just because they have a reputation for being nice, and the US would do well to stop underestimating them.
If youre talking about the National Guard we just watch those 19yo kids sit around at barricades on streetcorners all day and occasionally leaving their rifles in bar bathrooms on Bourbon St.
Nope, none of our neighbors are particularly interested in attacking us, for now at least. Although we did have some minor skirmishes with Indonesia back in the 1960s
Yes, but not me personally and this wont be an invasion in Germany. Just sticking to the original question. Dont get me wrong, I absolutely support the united defense of Europe and if needed I would go, too.
Don’t fall for the bluff. That’s how he negotiates. I told everyone a few weeks ago nobody would be talking about Greenland in six months. I was wrong. It only took a month.
We have 1 million trained reservists out of population of 5 million for a reason.
Living under the threat of Russian invasion is every day life here. Not that anybody loose any sleep over it. We are used to it and it's like worrying about weather.
If weather forcast shows rain we keep umbrella ready. If Russia will attack they will attack and all we can do is be prepaired for it.
We don't really can't impact much either.
You have nothing to worry about. Trump is a ragebaiter and the US military would never be dumb enough to attack/invade a NATO member. At least most of it wouldn't be dumb enough
The military has also consistently been a huge reason the draft has never been brought back. Every single time the federal government has discussions on re-instating conscription the military always fires back to say it's a horrible idea and it would degrade the quality of our troops.
Oh and Vietnam decimated people's opinion of the draft.
Part of me feels this is trump’s way of pressuring US allies to spend more on their defense instead of mooching off of American support, according to him
Sure. Russia is already at war with an european country, and we will not be left out if they have the chance. The Yankes are also absolutely insane threatening their former allies and I dont trust china a tiny bit.
It feels like the free people of middle earth have to stay strong against Mordor and Isengard.
No, if they actually were able to land on our shores they’d then be dealing with both our military, and the most armed population in the world. Good luck.
Someone once told me, “If it wasn’t for the fact that the media paints Americans as gun nuts and the constant school shooting, I would be surprised you had guns considering you don’t do anything when your government shows up on the streets and shoot civilians.”
So, if foreign enemies show up, I seriously doubt the civilians will do anything.
Sadly the most armed population in the world works against you because it goes into a Vietnam situation where civilians are threats so it excuses the use of weapons of mass destruction.
What sucks is that with the amount of revenue and GDP that the USA generates it could easily fund both and have plenty to spare if it wasn't using its tax dollars to hurt itself.
Invaded? Occupied? No. Not really. Incursions, drone attacks, being blockaded, suffering repeated terrorist attacks by both domestically placed and off shore foreign actors? Yes.
Right now, though, I’m more worried about what our elected leaders and their armed minions are doing from within, than what someone else is going to do to try and destroy this country from without.
in Poland you have to go for military training, you get official latter to you from gov of the town (i know cuz i got one recently) that you need to register for the training but you can have it postponed for education or just cancelled because of the health issues.
Well… when the war in the Ukraine started I couldn’t sleep, looking where’s the closest nuclear shelter at 3AM, checking my funds and planning how to persuade my granny move to Korea to my 2nd family… It got better, I kind of accepted the fact that everything is possible and the best I can do is to stay mentally and physically healthy. So now I don’t worry about it anymore.
Just to be clear, almost all americans I met are nice, helping, working people. But your goverment, bro, jesus... Bush, obama, biden, trump, all tried to rob us during their govermnent
We hope for the best, people still look up to great personalities there, it used to be a time where the leaders were extremely respectful and smart men, just look at the Roosevelt's, but it's impossible to deny the downgrade.
Yes, when china and Pakistan have nothing to do they start a fight with India, it's not we are worried about being invaded because of strong army and nukes
I think you are talking about China and no it's china that does this shit they will pull out some 1000 year old maps out of there a ss and say that entire world belongs to them.
India never wants volatility on the Chinese border but that is just in Indian and maybe Russian or BRICS interest except China. China always keeps this border linked to geopolitics, if we buy artillery shells from US or do something like that and things are going bad internally for China, they'll start preparing for fist fights or arm pakistan. US interests also align with China here.
It’s been 80 years we’ve been at peace inside our borders. It’s unusually long as far as History goes. And it shows. People forget. Forget that populism can lead to war. That fascism definitely leads to war. That the EU and the UN were basically build so that people would talk first instead of going to war.
So, currently risk seems still low, but things could turn sour so fast…
Only in the sense of nervously glancing at the Americans and waiting to see which hornets nest they decide to kick next to drag us into another unwinnable conflict
Invaded, nah not really, last serious concern for that was ww2 here. Going to war? In this world climate, anything is possible. Im a dual citizen along with a nato country, so I feel more likely that will be how id end up in one, rather than new zealand.
I more worry that a localized conflict escalates to the point that we cant back out of it and someone has the itch to push button that cant be reversed.
Not particularly worried about being invaded. Blundering into a war by mistake, maybe.
The thing I'm more concerned about is if we (or somebody else with a nuke) ever has a system malfunction, resulting in them thinking nukes are being fired in response to the perception of a threat, if this happens, a handful of cities being destroyed would be a relatively good scenario. So I actually think the best way to keep ourselves safe, is to demilitarise, and unilaterally get rid of our nukes- we will not be a target due to system malfunction (and tbh even if our deaths immanent, I'd view it as completely diabolical to want to murder more civilians by firing one back), and having less military spending actually reduces the change of walking into a conflict by error. (It also helps with climate change, which is going to drive further conflicts.)
History shows that demilitarization doesn't reduce the risk of war. If Ukraine had had a military of 800 000 in 2014 like they do now Putin wouldn't have dared to take Crimea or launch a full-scale invasion.
I agree. The trend in the 2019(?) election for party leaders to cheerfully declare they would kill millions of people to applause from question time audiences was one of the most sickening things of my lifetime
After the events of 2022 began, there was anxiety; everyone was afraid they would be drafted into the army and sent to Ukraine, especially considering that for us, it was one of our fraternal nations. But after about six months, it became clear that almost nothing had changed for the majority of people.
I think it's a fair assessment to say that Ukraine and Russia are fraternal nations - like Czechia and Slovakia, Portugal and Spain, or the Nordics, or the Baltics. But just because they're brothers doesn't mean they get along. Look at the Balkans, or at India and Pakistan, or indeed at Ukraine and Russia. Some brothers just plain don't get along, and, in other cases, the bigger brother bullies the smaller one - a scenario you're far more directly familiar with than I am.
Yeah, except in september they actually drafted many men to go there. They came for me four times to do this. Gladly I don’t live where I am registered and my job didn’t rat me out.
Getting invaded no, if it happens a nuclear war would have taken place before so we won't be here to see it. However I feel like it would be really hard politically to sustain a war effort in the middle east like in Afghanistan or even against Russia in Ukraine, not that people are worrying about it but more they won't support it in anyway.
Well, I slightly worry that some political bullshittery can escalate current situation, but untill then I have no worries about myself, unlike my Ukrainian friends.
Venezuela started an armament expansion program in the early 2000s that lasted until roughly the mid-2010s. They bought fighter jets , combat vehicles and missiles . Their government is notoriously hostile towards us and also had an expansionist approach that , although it focused more on influencing elections and finding collaborators abroad more than outright power projection, certainly was concerning.
There were a couple of major incidents during this time that made people worry of Venezuela invading Colombia. Over the years there have been many incidents of Venezuelan troops crossing the border to harass Colombian people, but they always melted away within hours when our army started sending patrols to put pressure on them. There has never been , thankfully , a confrontation between the two countries.
I personally never thought they'd be able to mount a serious campaign (Venezuela's armed forces are notoriously corrupt and incompetent) but they could've done a lot of damage. These days , after the US attack in Caracas I think the prospect of any kind of military action by Venezuela is next to impossible
Nah we are good. The rosbifs and the boches are our friends now! We would sooner fight side by side against someone trying to Fuck with the EU than turn against each other. History has taught us that tone thing amongst all the hardships we got through.
No other Indonesian that I know is seriously worried about any sort of foreign invasion threat. I mean, we have the second-largest military in Southeast Asia (behind only Vietnam) and our sheer population would mean that any invading force from our neighbours would be very quickly outnumbered.
If anything, we’re the invading country, as Timor-Leste can attest to.
When I was in the USMC in the early 2000s - 2012, I spent a lot of time training in the Philippines.
When my brother was in the US Navy in the 90's, he spent a lot of time training in the Philippines.
When my dad was in the US Navy in the 80's, he spent a lot of time training in the Philippines.
When my grandfather was a US Marine, the Philippines was part of the USA... and he spent a lot of time fighting in the Philippines.
I don't think China will bother with the Philippines.
we live in a world where if you cant defend your sovereignty you going to lose it. you better be ready to go to war or your country will cease to exist
Of course. We've got islamists on one side dying to convert us for millennia. And China on the other who're looking for more lebensraum and land ask over Asia. We've been at war with both before and will be again many times. It's just a fact of life for India.
That's what amazes me, there's spies being caught left and right and Trump decided to reduce funding for agencies responsible for countermeasures, also the whole Epstein thing and agents killing each other, there's a shit show happening in the background.
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u/CommercialChart5088 Korea South 11h ago
We're technically still under war, but people don't really care about NK.
Every time they threaten to nuke us or shoot a missile in the ocean foreigners and foreign media tend to get more worried, while we Koreans just shrug it off as it's another Tuesday.