Germany has never actually be an ally in any real sense. We have convenient bases there, but otherwise what is our interests? Germany has not stood beside us in arms - ever. Not prior to or after both world wars in which they were the enemy. The attacks by the German "barbarians" against Western powers gave rise to the Muslim empire. Their Martin Luther lead to hundreds of years of warfare. While we spend money to defend Germany and give them favorable trade deals - favorable for them - the use the money not only in world competition but literally to buy up American companies - economically raiding our country. Every poll shows that the majority of Germans despise the United States, so Germany is not even a country of people friendly towards us. Why do we defend Germany? Why do we consider them allies? Because of a NATO agreement? That's just paper. While it likely would not happen, so what if Russia overran Germany now? Russia has never been an enemy in any war. Regardless, the EU is astronomically more wealthy, has greater industrial power and over twice the population of Russia and France and Turkey have nuclear weapons. Let them spend the money and round up the troops for their own defense. Rather than the absurd Russia! Russia! Russia! diversions, our country's future will be determined by how we deal with China, not Russia, and in that contest China is definitely winning.
~ Because our politicians are stupid idiots that do not pay attention to business and just put on a show to justify their existence. Then crazy Trump came along and screwed everything up ...
Long past time to pull our head out of Europe's arse. We've subsidized their lavish lifestyles with our money and military bases far too long while letting our domestic needs pound sand. The up and rapidly coming new world power is China. We woke the dragon, we feed the dragon, and the dragon may well repay the favor by eating us.
Germans tend to be ethno-centric and keep to themselves. What's wrong with that somebody have a problem?
not to those on the right obviously, they keep telling Americans to go back home as if they are not real Americans cause of their ancestry
What makes you think we defend Germany anymore? The U.S. bases there are pretty much exclusively to support U.S. operations in other areas, most notably the Middle East. And the U.S. has indeed been an enemy of the U.S. before. The U.S. lost thousands of troops fighting the Russians in the aftermath of World War One. Turkey has nuclear weapons? Since when?
I don't remember anyone saying that. I would consider myself on the right on many issues, and I certainly have never said that. I can't think of anyone who has. Your statement sounds pretty sweeping, like more than just ones and twos. Or are you just making things up and using false stereotypes?
As far as I know, we are in Germany for us. Our soldiers in the ME go there for surgery, and it's a strategic location for supplies and such, to get to our soldiers in the ME. I'm all for getting out of Germany. It means stopping interference in the ME. Works for me.
Want to stop the EU from raising an army to oppose the US? Have military bases in their countries. Simple strategy. Get support for operations in the Middle East. Keep a close eye on the Europeans. Stop Germany from taking ove rother countries with their military might enforcing a balance of powers in Europe.
The EU is never going to raise an army to oppose the United States. And bases in Europe where the U.S. has had them for three quarters of a century are considered far better locations than Bahrain or Saudi Arabia.
That was actually one of the reasons why after WW2 the US didn’t want a United Europe. They didn’t want Europe building an army to potentially oppose them. And now we see European leaders advocating for them building an EU army. I wouldn’t dismiss that reason why.
Some Europeans want an EU Army. But it's purpose is not to oppose the United States. The idea is for Europe to be less dependent on the United States. And Europe being united after World War Two was utterly impossible as roughly one third of the nations in Europe were controlled and occupied by the Soviet Union.
Yeah but France, Germany and possibly Great Britain (but not really GB) were actually in the process of laying down the groundwork for a federal style supranational organization. The US realized in the long term that a United Europe could potentially oppose them militarily (remember France still had their colonies so they could compete on the global stage) and the US out a stop to that. I think they threatened to suspend Marshall aid. You have to think more long term.
The population of EU countries equals that of the U.S., and the total GDP of EU countries is more than the U.S. GDP. UK and France have nuclear weapons. Germany and other European countries should defend themselves and not rely on the U.S.
It is in your interest to learn from their superior governance. The average German worker is far better off... Everything is far better organised and efficient
The average German worker can never be anything but a German worker. Upward mobility economically is essentially impossible. In Germany, you are what you are and that is what you will be until the day you retire. There is an old German we know who came to the USA, a very skilled wood carver, and formed a doll making company employing 50 people back when dolls were highly collectable. The average price each was $50 to $200 each. He made millions, even a book written about him. However, he still had the family estate in the Black Forest of Germany. When his wife died and him in his early 70s, he moved back to Germany. Carving custom dolls was a hobby, not just his profession, so wanted to crave one-off dolls to sell mostly as a hobby. However, he couldn't because to be a wood carver in Germany he would have to go thru years as an apprentice wood carver working for someone else and ... it would take a decade from it to be legal for him to sell a doll as a work of art in Germany. You can't pursue what you want in Germany without German government permission and then you have to go thru years and years working for someone else, even just to be an artist. It took no such thing in the USA. It took approval only of consumers of his art, not years and years of art that the Germany government allows and approves of. There could be no Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, or for that matter a Picasso in Germany.
