> because we're subsidizing europe, which is a huge free rider on the US military. Even given that, the budget is massively overblown. > If Putin for whateve

> because we're subsidizing europe, which is a huge free rider on the US military. Even given that, the budget is massively overblown. > If Putin for whatever reason decided to become an expansionist power and the US had an european level military, no one could stop him. You seem to appeal to extremes. Ignoring how unlikely for that is to happen, you still don't need ~1000 military bases around the world, or would 500 be too little to stop Putin? > Europe in general has been massively subsidized in different ways by the USA from the end of WW2. They turn around and love to show off their moral superiority while someone else picks up the bill. That is the cost of being as global superpower and the world police, you pick up some bills, but you also get away with a lot of crap that others wouldn't.