this post was submitted on 16 Mar 2025
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According to former United States general Ben Hodges, the withdrawal of US troops from Europe is only a matter of time. In an interview with SonntagsBlick, he advises Switzerland to prepare for war.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago (6 children)

Has the USA ever won a war?

[–] [email protected] 32 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Yes, they win most of them. They mostly lose when they try to occupy a foreign country and do counterinsurgency.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_involving_the_United_States

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Every war they've ever declared. They just haven't declared war since WW2

[–] [email protected] -5 points 1 month ago (3 children)

So not a war since things have gotten so computer. Comforting.

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[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Tangentially related, he once said: "I had a German tell me one time, he said, the two pillars for us are NATO and the EU. NATO is for life, EU is for quality of life." I wonder how that'll play out in the near future.
EDIT: corrected link.

[–] [email protected] 56 points 1 month ago (2 children)

If anyone is interested in the state of things in Switzerland:

Our defense is in chaos right now. A scandal in our state-owned but public weapons manufacturer just broke a few weeks ago and shortly after the secretary of the departement of defense announced her resignation. We will see if the newly elected one will improve the situation.

The army is generally seen as somewhat of a joke, especially by people who served, which is more than half of all Swiss men. We like to call it a "Pfadiverein" (boy scouts association).

Even with all that, the right wing parties want to give a shitload more money to defense, and cut costs in social spending and foreign aid to compensate. Left of centre the need to improve defense is also accepted, but 1) before the army gets more money, they need to get their shit together and 2) more important than the army itself is integration with the european security Infrastructure (the left parties are also very pro-EU). The centre politicians usually mix blth stances and lean more one or the other way.

Also we still stand to buy fighter jets from the US, and only the left parties are calling to cancel the deal.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 month ago

If it makes you feel any better, we have a joke in Austria that we might as well not have an army, because we border 1) NATO, 2) Switzerland, and if either of those become a threat, we might as well capitulate immediately.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 1 month ago (3 children)

“According to everything I hear from Washington, Europe is no longer a priority.” Trump sees China as the main opponent of the US.

This didn't start with Trump, it has been building for a long time. I haven't seen anyone spell it out so clearly before though.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Soo. Uhh.. what exactly happens when US loses it's soft power and trust in Europe and Europe slowly cozies up to China?

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 month ago

Frankly I think Trump sees western nations not led by dictators as threats.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Oh, this is exactly what I was saying, this has been going on since Obama.

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