[landryraccoon]

The US chooses to do this though. The US can stop doing this anytime it wants to, nobody is forcing us to.

If we don't like subsidizing Pharma companies maybe it should just stop doing it. It's not like Europe is asking us to. Similarly, I'm all for closing bases. If the US wants to close bases and cut military spending, who's stopping us?

[derping69]

Russia invading Europe is what's stopping us.

[danmaz74]

Russia has 144 million people and a GDP on par with Italy. The EU has 500 million people and - even without NATO and the UK - French nukes, with the ability to develop them in other countries if necessary. Russians aren't stupid, they would never attack us.

[ahartmetz]

Fun fact: Russia has never once invaded Central Europe. Central / West European countries have invaded Russia a few times. Russia does not need space or natural resources and it would be difficult to conquer its way to the soft factors it is missing.

Given the strength of most European countries and their lack of natural resources, the chance of a large war being a net positive for Russia is small. Of course, sometimes there are internal reasons to start a war. Falklands and some US wars and, I think, most of Russia's small wars after the cold war come to mind.

[catawbasam]

Fun fact: Russia, as the dominant part of the Soviet Union, invaded Poland, which is in central Europe.

[dragonwriter]

Russia is part of Europe, Russia invading other countries in Europe is presumably a threat those countries would be highly motivated to address. The US keeps forces there and defence commitments because we're afraid of how Europe might act to protect itself if we weren't there, and because we want other countries in the region to feel inclined to accommodate US interests. (In both cases, “Finlandization” is an applicable concept.)