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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Due to some bs agreement they are untouchable by German police, and only really end up in court of someone died.
Anna Sacoolas killed a kid with their car leaving a US airbase in the UK - she fucked off back to the US claiming diplomatic immunity so she couldn't face charges. So they don't even always end up in court.
Yep, it's the only instance where they might, but even then it's no guarantee. Closing the bases would be awesome for anyone but landlords in the areas who are charging extortionate rates to base personal rather than offering affordable housing to locals.
rather than offering affordable housing to locals
Let's be honest, this wouldnt happen. Ideally the base would close and basically have an entirely new village built on it, flooding the local market with available properties that helps reduce the cost of housing - an abundance of supply over demand.
That said, the locals might have mixed feelings as US airmen will likely contribute to the local economy in some way.
That's exactly what will happen, since we have laws in Germany against leaving homes unoccupied (with severe fines), so if the landlord can't find a tenant willing to pay the extortionate rate, they have to lower the rate closer to market or risk paying triple of what they might be missing out on otherwise.
This is why we don't allow foreign bases in France. Also, alliances are frail and cannot be depended on
and only really end up in court of someone died.
That this is a known thing that happens is really tragic.
MMW: He'll soon need every single fighter at home.
The US uses their military bases to extend their sphere of influence: which makes me think that maybe they should pay the host countries not viceversa. If they invade Greenland the number of their bases in the EU will go to zero.
Well that could be tough for Europe to quickly adapt to ... but ok.
Will they pull out of Greenland?
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.
Well, right now Putin is the only one Europe needs to be defended from, so they will still devote full attention. More, probably, since Europe will be forced to hasten the military policy renewal
can this happen in asia too please
Asia has a Chinese Taiwan threat. It's a very different situation to Europe.
What do you want to happen or change in Asia? Removing troops from where and to what degree?
It's a source of friction with locals in Japan for sure, particularly in Okinawa.
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That would be nice. Let's see if it actually happens.
Donald Trump is going to kill millions, maybe billions of people in the long run from the collective effort of all his combined actions, and it sounds like the majority of people will be applauding the entire time right up to the very moment it's their head on the block. Tankies, conservatives, and centrists cheer as Earth burns.
Good and please clear out your airbases over here too. And take your shit cars with you.
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
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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.
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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.
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