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On September 08 2012 13:37 AnachronisticAnarchy wrote: Not only can we not maintain this, but we are also losing more than we are gaining at the moment. Now, other nations hate our guts and want us out. And yet half the country wants to increase our foreign military presence...
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On September 08 2012 13:35 xrapture wrote: Read any history book. Which nations are glorified?
Britian, Rome, Japan, Egypt. Countries with a strong military presence. We do the dirty work so the other countries can keep their thumbs up their asses.
But, we'll be remembered. ...someone please explain why spending blood and treasure to stabilize other nations is a profitable activity for the American taxpayer?
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On September 08 2012 13:39 Shady Sands wrote:Show nested quote +On September 08 2012 13:35 xrapture wrote: Read any history book. Which nations are glorified?
Britian, Rome, Japan, Egypt. Countries with a strong military presence. We do the dirty work so the other countries can keep their thumbs up their asses.
But, we'll be remembered. ...someone please explain why spending blood and treasure to stabilize other nations is a profitable activity for the American taxpayer? Because America is not an autarky.
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On September 08 2012 13:26 CajunMan wrote:Show nested quote +On September 08 2012 13:20 DannyJ wrote: The Germany one does seem kind of strange. Obviously there was a reason why there were so many troops there in the past and now it's a central hub to the East, but 50k seems pretty excessive. We like the think its been thousands of years since the last war but it's only been 70-75 years since that country tried to take over the world. I mean now ya it is less important but in retrospect 75 years is nothing.
You can't say "that country." During the third reich Nazi-Germany was a totalitarian state. It's form of government, ethnic diversity, economy, and contribution to the arts were all completely different than they were during the 1940's. Are you implying that U.S. troops are stationed in Germany to prevent "that country" from spontaneously attempting global domination once more?
I assure you the American Military is only there because the U.S. is essentially an imperialist nation. As much as I'm sure stationing all those troops burns a hole in the wallet, there's no doubt a ton of under-the-table agreements going on. Same goes for the Middle East.
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On September 08 2012 13:39 Shady Sands wrote:Show nested quote +On September 08 2012 13:35 xrapture wrote: Read any history book. Which nations are glorified?
Britian, Rome, Japan, Egypt. Countries with a strong military presence. We do the dirty work so the other countries can keep their thumbs up their asses.
But, we'll be remembered. ...someone please explain why spending blood and treasure to stabilize other nations is a profitable activity for the American taxpayer?
It's definitely not. The point that poster was making was that the US will be remembered for all time because of its global military presence. I think that's true, but not in a good way.
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No, even more troops should be deployed overseas. There are still manny areas in the world where human rights are violated verry heavily without anny form of action from the global community, like a U.N. peace force. Dont think the usa will go to all of these places, as not all of them hold strategic value but i somehow would still like to see some international action to bring peace to such areas (wich are mostly in africa)
So:yes to more troops overseas but in a different way then they are deployed now.
The reason for the us troops in germany is and never was due the fear of germany taking over the world, it was for the fear of the soviets taking over the world. 50k in germany is not much, considering it was the front line of the cold war, all the air defenses where stationed there. If you then also take staff and supporting units, it realy is not that much. Military needs alot of personal to just keep their airplanes and guns stand by.
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On September 08 2012 13:25 CursOr wrote: We have bases in over 100 countries accross the globe, and there are Zero foreign military bases in the US. In fact, the idea of that even sounds absurd... why would we have a foreign military base in our country? Seems perfectly reasonable though that we have tons of them accross the globe- to most Americans.
Even though they don't exactly tell us on TV, these bases cause a lot of pollution and damage to the surrounding environment, and have a long history of practicing with weapons and things that aren't allowed in the US. Vieques, Puerto Rico is a good example of this, along with many of the bases in Central America. The natives do not want us there, but the government allows it for a variety of reasons.
The ammount of money and effort the US, and our species in general, spends preparing for war and killing each other is just laughably bad. Yes, drastically reduce. Great post!
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On September 08 2012 13:39 Shady Sands wrote:Show nested quote +On September 08 2012 13:35 xrapture wrote: Read any history book. Which nations are glorified?
Britian, Rome, Japan, Egypt. Countries with a strong military presence. We do the dirty work so the other countries can keep their thumbs up their asses.
But, we'll be remembered. ...someone please explain why spending blood and treasure to stabilize other nations is a profitable activity for the American taxpayer?
Eh, sometimes you fight for the glory. People have different views on how countries should be run. Do I want to see a world with 0 wars, where everyone has a macbook and an iphone standing in line at Starbucks? Nope. I'm fine with where my tax dollars are going.
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Did you know many of the troops stationed in friendly countries are there to guard embassies.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_Security_Guard
Not all of it is for violence, most of its just standard guards. A big portion of the air force is security forces and they mostly just guard gates, transports, ect.
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The U.S. could certainly stand to take some troops out of Japan, Germany, the UK, and Italy, but those other countries need them. If U.S. troops are not there for the people, who will be?
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Like every superpowerful nation in history, we are an Imperialist nation. Europe, much of the Far East, and other lands are under our grip. Other countries can easily be paid off or intimidated, as has been done often. Any country that steps out of line, we destruct and of course justify it with the typical "humanitarian / democracy" garbage. The early 1990s were the golden age, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the US pretty much owned the world. We had so much power, we led the UN to enforce the most brutal sanctions ever made, and for 12 years at that, which caused a Holodomor-like disaster in Iraq, except with economic and social collapse on top of that.
Moral of the story is, the US is, proportionally to other states, the most powerful nation in history, and it is not to be fucked with. It's not the way I like it, but it's the way it is. Anyone who thinks we're going to reduce our military presence and consequentially our control and influence in foreign countries is delusional. It's not going to happen, and no country has done it unless it literally was not worth it at all or could not be sustained.
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While it's certainly rather important to the united states to maintain its military presence, YES it should definitely reduce said presence, as there is little benefit it can reap for the American people. We have far far passed the equilibrium point in terms of military presence, in my opinion.
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On September 08 2012 13:43 TheGreenMachine wrote:Did you know many of the troops stationed in friendly countries are there to guard embassies. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_Security_GuardNot all of it is for violence, most of its just standard guards. A big portion of the air force is security forces and they mostly just guard gates, transports, ect.
That link says there are only approximately 1,000 Marine Security Guards total. That's a tiny fraction of the total overseas deployments.
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Keep military presence where it's actually necessary.
Having over 100,000 troops situated in Germany/Japan/Italy/UK is way overboard. Nothing is going to happen to Italy or the UK any time soon.
I understand the point of military presence in regions of the world to play the political game, but 35k in Japan? What, is China going to launch an all out assault on Japan tomorrow (obvious not)?
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They should decrease some from Germany, Italy, GB, Hawaii, and increase the numbers in Afghanistan, Kuwait...
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On September 08 2012 13:46 JudicatorHammurabi wrote: Like every superpowerful nation in history, we are an Imperialist nation. Europe, much of the Far East, and other lands are under our grip. Other countries can easily be paid off or intimidated, as has been done often. Any country that steps out of line, we destruct and of course justify it with the typical "humanitarian / democracy" garbage. The early 1990s were the golden age, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the US pretty much owned the world. We had so much power, we led the UN to enforce the most brutal sanctions ever made, and for 12 years at that, which caused a Holodomor-like disaster in Iraq, except with economic and social collapse on top of that.
Moral of the story is, the US is, proportionally to other states, the most powerful nation in history, and it is not to be fucked with. It's not the way I like it, but it's the way it is. Anyone who thinks we're going to reduce our military presence and consequentially our control and influence in foreign countries is delusional. It's not going to happen, and no country has done it unless it literally was not worth it at all or could not be sustained. But how long can the party last? The debt is rising so quickly there's no hope of stopping it. Our spending is out of control. Funny how we overlook gross rights violations by China because we could not afford to have them as an enemy.
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What are they in Europe for? Russia isn't going to invade anyone.
Bases in Italy, UK and Germany definitively need to go.
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What is the point of so many in Germany? Some kind of close reserve force for the Mid East?
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On September 08 2012 13:43 xrapture wrote:Show nested quote +On September 08 2012 13:39 Shady Sands wrote:On September 08 2012 13:35 xrapture wrote: Read any history book. Which nations are glorified?
Britian, Rome, Japan, Egypt. Countries with a strong military presence. We do the dirty work so the other countries can keep their thumbs up their asses.
But, we'll be remembered. ...someone please explain why spending blood and treasure to stabilize other nations is a profitable activity for the American taxpayer? Eh, sometimes you fight for the glory. People have different views on how countries should be run. Do I want to see a world with 0 wars, where everyone has a macbook and an iphone standing in line at Starbucks? Nope. I'm fine with where my tax dollars are going.
Yes lets spend those tax dollars that we dont have, i mean last time i looked we are only like 16 trillion in the red. I mean it is not like there is anything else better we could be spending that money on. Or was that sarcasm that just went completely over my head.
I am surprised that we have so many in Germany. And i think we need to bring those numbers down, need to fix your own problems before getting involved with others.
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