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As a U.S. citizen/taxpayer, I look forward to the time when the U.S. shutters bases in Europe. I think you make a good point regarding the US having so many bases due to past wars. The fact of the matter is that the US has absolutely secured trade routes throughout the world for our own economic benefit. However, this action has, as a side effect, benefited other developed nations. Historically, US intervention in the Persian Gulf region (BEFORE the absurd 2003 invasion of Iraq on false pretenses) helped stabilize oil prices, benefiting the US hugely, and Europe to a lesser, but still large, degree. In financial terms, European citizens have paid nothing for these benefits, while American taxpayers pay out the nose for military. If American taxpayers weren't so brainwashed into financing such a large military, we would have either lower taxes or more spending on European style social programs (free university for qualified students, universal health care, etc) Now we are in a situation where the American public is, without question, going to be against future foreign interventions. One can only hope that somebody, anybody, will take up some of the slack. Any German who is old enough or studies history knows about the Berlin Airlift. One small detail that is easily forgotten in today's populist tide of "Amerrikka is evil" is that France and the UK gave up on holding Berlin. Their view was that it was inevitable that it would be taken over by the Soviets. The U.S., in an odd and, at the time, insane plan, decided to find any way to keep West Berlin supplied. While it would be naive to think the US didn't have any self-interest here, this was a case where a pushy, interventionist foreign policy was a good thing. |