Europe, do you actually want US troops to stay or leave your soil?

Question

Are they adding value or do you feel they are providing essential stability that prevents regional conflicts... the reason they ended up there is WWI and WWII.

Trump just pulled 5000 troops out of Germany and threatened to take others out of Italy.

I say... should have happened anyways... yea!

We still like you, maybe even love you... enjoy your cars, the culture (except for smoking outside), better quality foods vs American junk, etc... There's no animosity on main street USA I can detect. But, we've been paying to stabilize the world from WWII for a long time, we are soaked in 40T of debt and we feel it here... our role defending the world alone, needs to end one way or the other. It has for every major power.

Or are we necessary to "keep the peace"... otherwise you all slaughter each other in the name of... something... national pride, food, religion, etc?

This is a peaceful message. We all want peace, to eat well, enjoy our lives and get along. What governments do sets us all in motion to peace or conflict. There's no need for animosity.

A song about this topic...

Europe, do you actually want US troops to stay or leave your soil?

Levin · Accepted Answer

I think they're there largely out of self-interest.

And look, I've known guys in the army. I know they dick about in other countries, driving tanks around in the prairies of Canada, fucking about, literally and figuratively in Germany. I know the all too willing local female populations in Canada get a good fucking from British army guys. A lot of military spend is by its nature, waste anyway. You're paying the salary of guys you're not necessarily directly 'using'.

I honestly think it makes no difference either way to European safety what the orange blob or the brutes on the east of Europe's borders get up to. I strongly believe that Europe is destroying itself from the inside. With ludicrous net zero policies which impoverish the population, destroy industry, and make us significantly poorer; mass migration; Islamification; suicidal empathy; socialist policies which are completely out of control; globalisation; looming debt crises (the UK now has a total debt of 100% of GDP) and is paying something like £100 billion a year just to service the debt interest, never mind the principle. Bribing credulous populations with big bonanza socialist giveaways. In the UK we have 9 million people of working age (16-64)(21% of total) that are 'economically inactive' that don't go in the unemployment figures. I mean, economically inactive, what the fuck even is that?

Spain just gave residency to 500000 illegals. But it's fine because they've been there for over 5 months which makes them obviously worthy of Spanish citizenship, and presumably full access to the social state @lilBigPotato

The reason any little shocks abroad shake Europe to the core is because we're so indebted and strategically compromised.

Long story short, we're all poor and fucked. And it ain't cause of the US and Russia. The UK and the European project have instigating projects and philosophies that an A level economics student could see are extremely myopic and foolhardy. Which makes me wonder if it is all by design.

Guess what? You can be a moron, but eventually your chickens will come home to roost.

We all bloody well deserve what is coming.

OneViewpoint · Accepted Answer

As US citizen and former soldier, from a purely selfish financial perspective I'd like to see all our foreign bases shut down. Army, Air Force, and Naval. Bring them all home. Shut down the spending. Reduce our defense budget from $1 trillion annually to something more sane like $200 billion. Sorry taxpayer money addicted Military Industrial Complex, you're gonna need to pull the needle out of your arm and go to rehab.

Yes, having those assets on foreign soil withdrawn would seriously impact our ability to project power in other regions of the world. And that's probably a good thing for everyone. Maybe we'd be forced to keep our nose out of everyone else's business for the first time in 80 years.

If you want the EU to spend more on defense, don't ask them to increase spending, just pull the free help and leave them to decide what they need to fund for their own defense.

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

To be clear 5000 is really nothing and the announcement is more political. US troop numbers in Europe continuely fluctuate.

US troops were not supposed to be there for ever. The Germans pre invasion of Ukraine had been pushing to get UStroops out and were more than happy when the British army left.

Fact is apart from Poland. Norway & France and of course new NATO members like sweden and Finland other NATO members like Germany have not been pulling their weight, since the end of the cold war their military has become tiny as has their airforce and army. They share tanks with Holland and despite being the biggest exporter of main battle tanks apart from Russia other countries have more of the tanks they build. Then there's Britain with more admirals than ships, 2 aircraft carriers with no planes and their army with no working tanks and reduced numbers. The British army hasn't been this weak since ever.

Basically NATO countries have become to reliant on the US and used it as an excuse not to invest in theif militaries.

lilBigPotato · Accepted Answer

Let's be real here for a minute. The US is not having all of those bases and soldiers in Europe because they care so much about European countries and peace on the continent. The US is a world power and protecting a lot of its dominance through those bases. A lot of what you do in the middle East is managed through the European bases, not yet US. So if you pull off soldiers, you also hurt your own interests. And that's why this 5000 is more of a symbolic act than a meaningful change.

Also be aware that currently a lot of Europeans see the US as one of the main things threatening peace in Europe.

To answer your initial question, I want Europe to be able to defend itself independently. That means not just not rely on US soldiers, but also not rely on equipment that can be made useless at any point by some moody orange monkey. I don't mind having soldiers of allies here at long as we have the same interests.

Maybe_Maybe_not · Answer

This question is so hilariously serious omg

You're a light bulb avatar reaching 50 Europeans, at best. We're nobody and so are you. Yet you typed a body text like you're an international peace negotiator with something major to ask.

Your question, as is, cannot be answered, it's a question for the big players above us all, were just average folk on a niche forum.

goaded · Answer

They're there so that America can more easily project force around the world, not to keep peace in Europe. In case you haven't noticed, European countries (at least the ones that aren't former Soviet) aren't interested in war with each other.

loveslongnails · Answer

You might not believe this, but the "average" European citizen doesn't give a shit if American soldiers are in their country, or not. Of course, I haven't done a science base survey, just basing in on general conversation while I've been in Europe.

Dargil · Answer

Our military presence and substitute for Western Europe taking care of its own military affairs has made their cradle to grave welfare system operate for decades.

strawberryapple · Answer

Bring them home and put them at Dem terrorist rallys!

FreyaRed · Answer

Away with them, they are useless in case of a conflict.

Pohjolan · Answer

Well those troops would be in a really awkward position if Trump invades Greenland while congress votes for article 5.

Anonymous · Answer

Go. Your soldiers cause problems

Anonymous · Answer

No need for them to stay.

Anonymous · Answer

Fuck Europe

Europe, do you actually want US troops to stay or leave your soil?

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If you are in Europe, is your country in NATO? and do you want the US to stay in NATO?

Europe, do you actually want US troops to stay or leave your soil?

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If you are in Europe, is your country in NATO? and do you want the US to stay in NATO?

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