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Tue
10
May

Canada: Demilitarize Dawson.

Travelling the world, getting a free education, and having rent and food payed for sounds like a pretty good deal. The only catch: being used as a tool for an imperial system based on violence and oppression, suffer from PTSD as a likely result, and would then not be helped as your condition would worsen. This kind of deal was exactly what the soldiers recruiting at my school were offering.

Standing proud in their uniforms, the soldiers offered a variety of brochures to students that stopped by their stand. Beside them was a poster that looked like a scene from the latest action movie portraying special forces with assault rifles. To most, there is not much of a problem up to now. But let me tell you a story:

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English translation unavailable for .
Fri
06
May

Soldiers at 16: Sifting fact from fiction

Fewer than 20 countries worldwide still allow their armed forces to recruit young people from age 16. The UK is among them; it is the only major military power and the only European state to recruit from such a young age.

Across British society – from children’s organisations to veterans to parliamentary committees – this policy is now being challenged. Most of the public agree that change is due – only one in seven thinks that 16 is an acceptable age to train as a soldier.

Despite this widespread unease, a number of common misconceptions still lead many 16 and 17 year olds to leave their education early and enlist. Here, we examine these ‘myths’ in light of the evidence available (click the link below to see the full report).

Tue
03
May

China’s military has released a rap video in order to lure more recruits

The song’s chorus goes:

Even if a bullet passes through my chest
My mission remains carved in my heart
Brothers, let’s follow this path
[Roar! Roar! Roar! Roar!]
Roar with animal spirit
Look to the bravest general of them all
Walk from here toward the site of combat

China’s military has released a rap video in order to lure more recruits
English translation unavailable for .
Wed
27
Apr

Alternatives to military service in Russia

This website takes you through the various steps to apply for a subsitute civilian service, instead of military service, in Russia.

Read more...

Alternatives to military service in Russia
Mon
25
Apr

Crimea hands out military draft papers to newborn boys

The Guardian

Russian authorities in Crimea have formally presented newborn boys with military draft notices alongside the more usual birth certificates, calling on them to report for duty in 2032.

The Crimean government handed out the notices to newborn boys during a solemn ceremony in the Sevastopol civil registry office as part of celebrations for an annual holiday known as Defender of the Fatherland Day on 23 February.

Thu
21
Apr

Sierra Leone 'Helped Deploy Ex-Child Soldiers to Iraq', Academic Says

London — Sierra Leone's government helped British private security service firms recruit former child soldiers to work as guards in Iraq from 2009, said a Danish academic who has spent years investigating the issue.

Thousands of children were forced to fight in Sierra Leone's 11-year civil war, which ended in 2002. More than 50,000 people were killed in the fighting and many tens of thousands more mutilated or raped by rebels.

By 2009, with Iraq in chaos, impoverished Sierra Leone was looking for a way to engage its workforce, said Maya Mynster Christensen, a researcher at the Danish Institute Against Torture who made repeated trips to the West African country.

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