President Donald Trump plans to pull about 20,000 U.S. troops from Europe, according to a leading Italian news agency.
A European diplomatic source told ANSA that Trump, who entered office on Monday for a second term, wants to reduce the American contingent in Europe by about 20 percent and plans to ask for a “financial contribution” for the maintenance of the remaining troops.
I know it goes against the narrative, but like, yeah, we do. There’s plenty of examples of this, even in the modern era, and you can find them pretty easily when you look into this topic. Honestly the thing that’s weird even for me, an american: we use withdrawing one of our bases from a country as a threat when we’re negotiating. A really really effective one, too. It turns out that, while having a concentration of spunky 18 year old boys with lil’ matching outfits is very obnoxious for those living near them, governments the world over see way more to gain from having us there than from asking us to leave.
It seems fair to admit this is, you know, partially because when this happens we go to their neighbors who they’ve hated for the last five-hundred-or-so-years and then ask if they would be willing to host a US base (usually in deal that’s suspiciously favorable to them, too…). Mostly though, it’s because we pay fucking stupid amounts of money in leases (and bribes, obvs) to let us stay there.
No, there really isn’t. More examples of you not leaving when asked.
People don’t easily accept things that challenge their preconceptions, and they especially don’t seek those things out, boy do I know (gestures at the american political landscape, myself and all of human history). With that in mind, could you provide a source (or example)? I’m extremely interested in being proved wrong on this topic, especially by a user from an instance with a reputation for holding well supported views counter to the prevailing ideas in the US.