[y4mi]

> The sole thing presently keeping Russia from invading Eastern Europe and taking more territory, is the US military presence in Europe. The sole thing keeping North Korea from invading South Korea and attempting to annex it, is the US. The sole thing (maybe temporarily) keeping China from officially annexing Taiwan, is the US military presence in Asia.

I don't now about Taiwan, but I doubt it as the other points are utter nonesense. China is the only reason why NK still exists. And China 'protects' NK because the US wants it.

And I have no idea where you got the russian thing from. That makes simply no sense. It was true about ... 40 years ago? and thats stretching it. The economic sanctions from the EU had a way bigger impact on their last 'invasion'

> Not Germany, not France, not the UK, not Australia, not Canada, not New Zealand, not Japan, not the UN.

I agree on that front. None of them deserve that title. Nor does the US though. The position of 'leader of the free world' is - in my opinion - vacant at the moment.

[GCU-Empiricist]

Did sanctions stop Russia from securing another warm water port in Ukraine?

[y4mi]

no, but it stopped russia from continuing the aggression.

The sanctions didn't hit until after that happened.

[aaron-lebo]

Russia invaded Crimea with NATO and the US watching. It's not a stretch at all to imagine that Russia would be much more active if The US didn't spend more than anyone else in the world on their military many times over. You are drastically underestimating just how big the US military presence is. Either European nations would have to spend much more on their military (and lose some of their social democratic nature), or they'd be under constant threat.

Japan, Taiwan, and SK the same. Just look at the numbers.

Here's military expenditures for 2017 if you'd like facts:

1 United States 611.2 billion

2 China 215.7

3 Russia 69.2

4 Saudi Arabia 63.7

5 India 55.9

6 France 55.7

7 United Kingdom 48.3

8 Japan 46.1

9 Germany 41.1

10 South Korea 36.8