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
They are called mercenaries and the practice is as old as war.
There are tons of mercenary companies working for the US Government too.
It's like saying that a muzzle loading musket and an assault rifle are the same thing.
You are just talking about scale, they are both guns.
So, if you personally were going into combat, you'd be happy to have the 1700s single shot musket instead of a modern weapon?
Next you'll be saying that two tin cans connected by a string is as good as a modern landline.
I am not really sure you understand how language works.
One way it works is by evolving over time.
An idea that seems to elude you.
You're the one who seems confused that not working for a corporation doesn't make doing violence for payment less professional or mercenary...
I don't know who you think you're replying to.
I'm commenting to Miller.
His take is that a weapon is a weapon, mine is that there's a lot of difference between a spear and a tank.
You. I'm responding to you. You're not getting it.
Do you have first hand knowledge of the work these mercenaries do versus the work of western mercenaries? Your entire argument is premised upon having said knowledge.
I think you replied to the wrong commenter.
I'm having a beef with Miller about how the meaning of the word mercenary has changed over time.
Mercenaries are professionals, though. This phenomenon is about ordinary or at least commonly criminal people.
The non/semi-professional mercenaries have to start somewhere before they get promoted to the big leagues.
Well first they need to get promoted to “assistant to the mercenary” before they become truly professional.
They usually start as foot soldiers in a formal state military before moving on to mercenary work.
That was before the Gig Economy took over.
Anyone who does this type of work for money and isn't employed directly by a government is a "professional mercenary." What's the difference between some ex-Marine who gets hired as a mercenary after a 4 year tour and an "ordinary" or "commonly criminal" person?
You're using "professional" to mean "ethical and skilled" but anyone who takes a job killing people for money from the highest bidder is far from that.
If they are paid they are professional and not all mercenaries are paid in coin.
Mercenaries are definitely not all professionals - who do you think are the boots on the ground for all the proxy wars happening today?
Turkey and Russia were flying out Syrian mercenaries to north Africa to fight each other over Libya.
It's extensively published in military research papers that guns for hire (mercenaries) are becoming much more ubiquitous in today's proxy wars.
Look up the definition of professional in the dictionary. If you get paid for a job, your are a professional. Level of experience or skill is not part of the definition.
I think the key term being used is "mercenary" though