[kulahan]

Ofcom could do it too if they had like 25 aircraft carriers and 2 of the 3 largest air forces on the planet, the best intel network, the most advanced tools, the backing of a $25T economy, the…

[nehal3m]

Might makes right I guess.

[hdgvhicv]

US is losing a war on washing, hardly fear inducing

https://www.irishtimes.com/world/middle-east/2026/03/18/bloc...

[catlikesshrimp]

Toilets are nice to have, but not REQUIRED when you are on a ship. Tongue in cheek

[yostrovs]

Ireland doesn't have a military.

[Mr_Bees69]

They have ~8k troops.

[yostrovs]

Exactly. 0.23% of GDP. It exists only to be able to say that it exists. But it's not in NATO. The Irish will protect themselves if things go bad.

[pc86]

Ideologically maybe not, but practically speaking, of course. Your government can only enforce its laws against you because if you resist you get put in a cage forever or they kill you. At the end of the day, that's the reason.

[philipallstar]

Now apply your critique to Ofcom.

[nehal3m]

Gladly. In practice it’s true, but that doesn’t make it morally justified.

[bheadmaster]

Always has.

[nslsm]

As much as I dislike the results of that, the opposite would be worse.

[danlitt]

The opposite? Literally any justification would be "opposite". Any justification is better than no justification!

[wongarsu]

The rule of law is worse than might makes right? Or what do you perceive as the opposite of "might makes right?"

[bluefirebrand]

Rule of law is always implicitly backed by might makes right. The law is in control of the military and police after all.

[pc86]

What is stopping you from breaking a given law if there is zero chance you'll be jailed or killed for doing so?

[mothballed]

Social ostracism, loss of voting rights, loss of licensing, loss of ability to volunteer for some of your children's activities, loss of job opportunities because your name is on a docket or list of sexual offenders, higher insurance rates, loss of rental options, possible difficulty obtaining a passport or getting a visa, potentially being dropped from certain bank activities during due diligence, etc

Being jailed with some books and lots of time to work out sounds nice sometime, especially during times when home life is toddlers or baby screaming at you and waking you 24/7 and all your time is spent tending to others' needs so you have no personal agency anyway, the rest does not.

[pc86]

All of those other things (except maybe social ostracism), are also backed up by the force of the state and it's honestly kind of concerning you don't see that.

Even debanking only happens because the banks themselves face fines from the state, which if unpaid leads to loss of licensure, after which continued operation leads to... jail. You only need a passport because if you try to push through security without one, you're going to jail. I'm sure if I wanted to waste my time I could follow the thread on all the other ones too.

Social ostracism is a good point. Perhaps the exception that proves the rule?

[nehal3m]

Your moral compass?

[exe34]

Picture an astronaut holding a gun: always has been.

[PixyMisa]

That has been true throughout history.

[gilrain]

The cooperation of allies is more powerful than all of that, and the US is woodchipping their allies as fast as possible. Their power will disappear astonishingly quickly.

[kulahan]

Maybe, but being close to the US is very valuable. Can't imagine every leader out there is going to hamstring their own economy to poopoo on whoever becomes president after Trump.