Where debating everything under the sun is only the beginning

There are 53,766 US troops in Germany. Merkel needs to give them exit visas.

Quote from: Sanguinemoon on 2015-03-23, 01:50:52

America wanted to move on from the Cold War, not relive it.

For sure and pigs can fly.

Howie, just because we're critical of Russia's actions doesn't mean we have to support every one of America's.

Sang, why do you spend time and effort answering to two wind-up slogan chanters?
Just curious.

Last time the US closed some bases in .de there was a freakout - the local economies would lose half their customers ( these bases tend to be in rural areas, call it unofficial foreign aid ).

Last time the US closed some bases in .de there was a freakout - the local economies would lose half their customers ( these bases tend to be in rural areas, call it unofficial foreign aid ).

I have a solution. We close the bases, thereby saving a ton of money and then send Euros to the local areas. Everybody wins!

AFAIK those military bases are financed with our money.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States is footing more of the bill for overseas bases in Germany, Japan and South Korea even as the military reduces the number of American troops in Europe and strategically repositions forces in Asia, a congressional report says.
The exhaustive, yearlong investigation by the Senate Armed Services Committee focused on costs and burden-sharing as the United States spends more than $10 billion a year to back up the U.S. military presence overseas, with 70 percent of the amount expended in the three nations. The figure does not include military personnel costs.

You're either with the Empire or against the Empire, dammit! 

Vilnius (AFP) - NATO jets were scrambled Tuesday to escort Russian fighters and nuclear-capable bombers flying near the Baltic states and Sweden with their transponders switched off, sparking protests over the danger they posed to civil aviation

Lithuania's defence ministry spokeswoman Asta Galdikaite said NATO air policing aircraft identified two Tu-22 type bombers and two SU-27 jets. The Swedish military also confirmed the aircraft showed up on their ground radar.

"The flights conducted with switched-off on-board transponders are among other things a risk to civil aviation as such flights are not visible on civil air traffic control radars," she told AFP.

Lithuania's President Dalia Grybauskaite said last week that Russia sent nuclear-capable Iskander missiles to Kaliningrad, which could "reach even Berlin" .

US forces deployed a battery of Patriot surface-to-air missiles near the Polish capital Warsaw this weekend as part of ongoing drills.

NATO is also countering Moscow's moves by deploying more aircraft, ships and personnel for exercises on its eastern flank.

Quote from: krake on 2015-03-24, 17:30:32

AFAIK those military bases are financed with our money.

How much of it?
I need you provide a breakdown of the cost sharing for the bases to show you're not just this from some tinfoil hat anti-American site.

Saying Germany pays for American bases implies Germany pays the majority of the costs, but it's slightly clever phrasing that still leaves open the possibility that the US 99 percent of it.

1%, 10%, 30% or 50% - we simply don't want to pay for and get involved in your stupid wars anymore. Therefore it should be 0%.
If you want world domination, please do it on your own!

Imagine!
Foreign troops and military bases operated by a foreign state on US gound, pretending that they are protecting the US from an Iranian, or North Korean, or Russian, or whatever kind of takeover.
Wonder if you can!

With the U.S. F-35 Joint Strike Fighter still in limbo over reliability problems, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s administration on Monday said it would begin regular production of its newest fighter jet, the T-50, next year.

1%, 10%, 30% or 50% - we simply don't want to pay for and get involved in your stupid wars anymore

If you want world domination, please do it on your own!

1%, 10%, 30% or 50% - we simply don't want to pay for and get involved in your stupid wars anymore. Therefore it should be 0%.
If you want world domination, please do it on your own!

It's just that I smelled bullshit in the phrasing and I was right and the phrasing is probably what you picked up from a propaganda site.

But I can tell you this, part of the equation that led to Obama's election and re-election was the promise of removing troops from the Middle East and other places.

Americans are not neocon idiots that fantasize about an American empire spanning the globe any more than you want one.

Unfortunately, right now we have Russia in Ukraine and flying provocatively close to the Baltics, Britain, Portugal and probably more nations that would crumble in a week on their own under the onslaught of the the Russian military.

So Putin makes conditions impossible to just pick up and leave.

Who is again that annexed another country's territory?

The current policy is not to dominate the world. Regardless if a Democrat or Republican,...

The propaganda site you are referring to is the homepage of the German embassy in the USA.

Each year, Germany contributes nearly $1 billion to the upkeep of U.S. bases in Germany (Council on Foreign Relations, 2003) PDF

And even today, Germany continues to contribute nearly $1 billion each year to the maintenance of U.S. bases

I wonder. If the United States were to unilaterally decide that we've had enough, pull ALL of our boys home from Europe and anywhere else we've got foreign bases for that matter, and concentrate on beefing up a serious home defense--- how long would it take for a certain bear to move in

As for the Crimeans, it was their wish to become 'annexed'.

In case you mean Crimea, did you expect Russia to watch how Crimea turns into an US military naval base after the US staged putsch?

Russia has unveiled ambitious plans to build a superhighway that, in theory, could make it possible to drive from London on one end to New York on the other.

According to a report by The Siberian Times, the head of Russian Railways is asking the government to seriously consider his project dubbed the Trans-Eurasian Belt Development, the first modern transportation corridor that would link up the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean.

I wonder. If the United States were to unilaterally decide that we've had enough, pull ALL of our boys home from Europe and anywhere else we've got foreign bases for that matter, and concentrate on beefing up a serious home defense--- how long would it take for a certain bear to move in. How long after that would it take for certain posters--- we won't mention any names, will we--to ask that somebody PLEASE come in and save them from this bear--- provided the bear lets them ask of course? I wonder if we should do anything about it next time--- or should we just stay home and let them figure this out for themselves.

so from the bear's perspective not a whole lot would change

The eagle couldn't fly in as quickly to respond to what the bear's doing.

America leave, Germany pays more not less. Even if they didn't take over the old American military bases, they'd still have to beef of the the military  especially in the face of Russia's recent actions.

Quote from: Macallan on 2015-03-28, 01:28:22

so from the bear's perspective not a whole lot would change

On thing would. The eagle couldn't fly in as quickly to respond to what the bear's doing.

But I wonder what it would mean for small fraction of the costs of the American bases that Germany and other countries pay that Krake complains about. The German military would keep at least the major ones of strategic importance,  but now would be paying the entire costs.  Folks like him don't seem to understand that the European get to spend so little of their GDP on the military because America has to spend so much.

Get it Krake? America leave, Germany pays more not less.

Do you seriously think those american bases are what keeps russia from invading .de? Have you lost your mind?