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If the NATO countries were are investing 2% GDP like they agreed to perhaps we could pull all of our troops out.
Regardless what NATO does or doesn't do, it's in Russia's best interest if the US Military closed all foreign bases. I guess this is part of the plan to Make Russia Great Again.
US bases in Europe have nothing whatsoever to do with regional issues or European defense. If they disappeared tomorrow, it would cause some local economic hardships and nothing else, as far as Europe is concerned. Those bases exist to extend the reach of the US military in defense of US political interests and for prestige reasons.
Putin would love if the US closed all foreign military bases. Makes you wonder if this is more Russian propaganda as part of TrumPutin's ongoing (and successful) effort to Make Russia Great Again.
As someone else said in a prior thread: What's next, give Alaska back to Russia?
My thoughts exactly,,, what sell 'em to Russia lock, stock n barrel and send our troops home to unemployment? What kind of question is the OP making??? We are in foreign lands because we want to be.
"They don't protect our homeland from attack. There deterrence effect is overrated. They don't always prevent nuclear proliferation. They encourage resentment. They can cause the U.S. to support brutal dictatorships. They risk entangling us in unnecessary wars. Technology has largely made them obsolete."
US bases in Europe have nothing whatsoever to do with regional issues or European defense. If they disappeared tomorrow, it would cause some local economic hardships and nothing else, as far as Europe is concerned. Those bases exist to extend the reach of the US military in defense of US political interests and for prestige reasons.
By my very conservative calculations, maintaining installations and troops overseas cost at least $85 billion in 2014, more than the discretionary budget of every government agency except the Defense Department itself. If the US presence in Afghanistan and Iraq is included, that bill reaches $156 billion or more.
While bases may be costly for taxpayers, they are extremely profitable for the country’s privateers of twenty-first-century war like DynCorp International and former Halliburton subsidiary KBR. As Chalmers Johnson noted, “Our installations abroad bring profits to civilian industries,” which win billions in contracts annually to “build and maintain our far-flung outposts.” https://www.thenation.com/article/th...re-in-history/
Meanwhile for the United States, investing taxpayer dollars in the construction and maintenance of overseas bases means forgoing investments in areas like education, transportation, housing, and healthcare, despite the fact that these industries are more of a boon to overall economic productivity and create more jobs compared to equivalent military spending. Think about what $85 billion per year would mean in terms of rebuilding the country’s crumbling civilian infrastructure.
They haven't made us safer. But, they have locked us to a permanently militarized society which has made us vulnerable and damaged a lot of lives.
Don't we want the money for a better America? I thought that was the agenda?
Says the person who does not share a border or even a continent with a country bent on absorbing/assimilating them.
The U.S. marginalizing itself out of the game is a dream come true for a country who LOST the cold war but is still the same country at heart run by a leader chosen from a less than stellar period in their history.
You need to ask yourselves if Russia losing the cold war was due in any part to your 'hands on' influence in Europe costing it the kinds of resources it couldn't afford to compete with.
Just a foreigner's opinion, but taking your ball, bats, all the gloves and the bases leaves an empty field for another to use for different game where they get to make ALL the rules.
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