Good riddance, we tried to get them out of Germany for decades. American soldiers off base are the worst. Drunk driving their oversized trucks, starting fights in village pubs, and generally being aggressive and obnoxious. And whenever something actually happens, they are picked up by on-base military police, get a slap on the wrist, and keep at it. Due to some bs agreement they are untouchable by German police, and only really end up in court if someone died.
this post was submitted on 27 Jan 2025
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and only really end up in court of someone died.
That this is a known thing that happens is really tragic.
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I wonder. Maybe Putin and Trump had a backroom deal that if US pulls out of Europe, then Putin will go on the negotiating table to end the war in Ukraine, and Trump is using the argument of "free riding Europeans" as convenient pretext. Trump is showing to Putin that the West is de-escalating by withdrawing American troops. After all, the Russian president is complaining of NATO encroachment. American troop withdrawal is indeed evidence for de-escalation.
Then at the same time, Trump wants to pivot against China. The US troops in Europe could be redeployed to Asia.
This is simply my speculation and there could be more to this than we would know publicly.
also a good reason to make such a fuss about greenland:
well if they won't let us protect them, perhaps we should just leave NATO...
smoke mirrors and bullshit, it's all they have
As an American, I could get on board for lower military spending, fewer people deployed, and Europe building up their own defense to make up the difference.
But I donβt trust for one second that Trump is doing this for anything good. Maybe Putin thinks Europe will pay less attention to him if they have to make up for lost American defenses.
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Honestly? Sure. The NATO shield will still exist so it doesn't affect the security of European countries much, and it only reduces American military influence abroad by reducing their capabilities to respond to events in the region, so what do we care? We should be investing more in defense regardles of whether the Americans pull out or not.
Don't threaten us with a good time
Itβs time for Europe to defend itself.
It has been high time to get rid of all and any US reliance when that orange fascist Muppet got elected the the first time.
When will the US-made fighter jets stop working?
I wonder that too. Hiding a kill switch deep within the F-35 is just the kind of shit our government would do. Maybe make the kill switch only able to be activated by something in the F-22, so it wonβt ever be relevant unless things go really sideways.
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They're planning on adding a paywall to their startup.
The pilot has to yell "I'M LOVIN' IT" into the radio with sufficient enthusiasm otherwise the landing gear won't come down.
The US doesn't have troops in Europe to benefit Europe though. They have troops in Europe to benefit the US.
Europe should be totally fine with them leaving. Get off their territory, give up all that power projection and hamstring yourself.
What a weird thing to threaten.
Well i argue that it's more complicated than that ... Europe really did profit tremendously from the relationship with the USA after WW2, but now ... not so much anymore, i guess. If one looks at recent developments.
Trump is as dumb as a bucket o shit. That's why he's threatening to shoot himself in the foot.
That will depend on whether Trump knows Putin has something planned for Europe now that his lapdog is in the White House
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He'd cut off his own hand if you could convince him that it voted for Biden.
Fair enough. The less US military presence in Europe the better. We shouldn't be reliant on the US for our security needs. European and NATO nations need to make sure they're pulling their weight.
That's easier said than done. We have too few people in the military and our equipment is old and sparse.
Well gettchyo ass in gear and join the party for your own good
Sounds like military spending is gonna have to go up then!
European and NATO nations need to make sure theyβre pulling their weight.
Which is something that every President starting with Bill Clinton has been saying but the EU has had its fingers stuck in its ears while going "La la la I can't year you!". They learned nothing from the Yugoslav Wars, didn't wake up for Crimea and it took extreme clanging of the alarm bells to get them to respond to Russo-Ukrainian War.
The EU has more people than the United States with an economy well capable of providing for common defense. It's time for them to quit faffing about and get to it. The US was never supposed to be the eternal linchpin of NATO.
Obligatory: Donald Trump is a cancer.
There is a reason Russia does not want Ukraine to join the EU. Even the pretty bad state of the EU militaries ends up with a fighting force which is larger then Russias and has some pretty good tech. The issue is mostly organizing it all.