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by AnimalMuppet 85 days ago
But from the non-Iranian point of view, those countries want those bases to protect them against Iran. So that's going to be problematic.

I mean, the US could unilaterally decide "no, we're not going to defend the Middle East anymore, good luck everybody" and leave. But it's not like the US is oppressing, say, Qatar by having a base there. They willingly let the US stay there.
1 comments
Lapel2742 85 days ago
> those countries want those bases to protect them against Iran.

As far as I know: Israel and Saudi Arabia want these bases. I do not know the current opinion of the other Arab countries.

> Qatar by having a base there. They willingly let the US stay there.

At least they are now noticing that there are risks in hosting the US military too.

> “One of the most significant outcomes of this war is the shattering of the concept of a regional security system in the Gulf region,” Mr. al-Ansari said. “The regional security framework in the Gulf was based on certain axioms. Many of these axioms have been bypassed in the current war.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/24/world/middleeast/qatar-us...

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rolandog 81 days ago
> At least they are now noticing that there are risks in hosting the US military too.

Exactly. It's like having a douchebag "friend" over that then goes ahead to sleep with some neighbor's wife. Suddenly, your car is scratched, everyone in your neighborhood hates you, and he just up and leaves you to pick up the pieces.

Although in this case the US — the douchebag "friend" — it would be more apt to say that they actually murdered some of the neighbors' daughters and jointly attacked with some racist buddy another neighborhood and went on a rampage burning random houses down while gunning down the parents trying to take them to court.

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