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- Japan - Finland - Taiwan - South Korea I've got bad news for you. The reason these countries even still exist today is the US defense budget. Out of the
by 908B64B197 5y ago
- Japan
- Finland
- Taiwan
- South Korea
I've got bad news for you. The reason these countries even still exist today is the US defense budget.
Out of the rest you named, France is the only one capable of projecting force on a world-wide scale. There's a reason previous administrations tried to get other NATO countries to increase their spending: it's not cheap to keep footing the bill for everyone else!
- sofixa 5y agoI see about South Korea and to an extent Taiwan ( one might argue Taiwan is not a country), but care to elaborate on Japan and Finland? Either if you assume that without the US the Soviets would have conquered both after WW2, the Soviet Union no longer exists, and all constituent countries are now independent.
- GauntletWizard 5y agoAnyone arguing that Taiwan is not a country is not arguing in good faith, unless they're making the joke that the Republic of China still has sovereignty and will one day suppress that nasty uprising.
- sofixa 5y agoPrecisely, it's complicated. Nobody recognises Taiwan as an independent country and they don't really claim to be one; some small countries recognise the Republic of China as the China, but the vast majority including the UN, count the PRC as the China, and nominally the island of Taiwan is a part of China. Of course, for most intents and purposes Taiwan is an independent country, but them declaring it as such or anyone recognising it would piss off the PRC, who still view it as a part of a unified China. The civil war ended 70 years ago, they should let it go, but that's easier said than done.