People don’t understand that Starship Troopers is actually a satire on fascism.

Fascist Italy tried to look tough by draining swamps and launching a militarized campaign against mosquitoes. Posters literally showed soldiers fighting mosquitoes, because Mussolini needed “victories” wherever he could find them. Italy was too pathetic to win real wars (they got humiliated in Ethiopia and had to be bailed out by Hitler in WWII), so the regime staged a fake one against bugs. The joke is that fascism always needs an enemy, even insects, because the spectacle of extermination matters more than actual victory.