4 ms·

Because we have learned the US to be an unreliable partner and a source for most of our problems, several times now. It's time to stand on our own feet.

Jcowell 4y ago
Can I get a source on this? From my shallow understanding of history. Europe is the source of Europe’s problems.
- atlasunshrugged 4y ago
  Most does sound like quite a stretch but to be fair the U.S. has certainly caused some regional issues (e.g. slowing growth by cutting off trade with Iran, electronic surveillance in Europe on allies, pushing EU countries to buy American arms instead of developing domestic industries, pushing for large beneficial trade deals like nuclear plants that benefit American companies). But yes, most does not seem fair either to the U.S. or to Europe which does have some agency.
  - DocTomoe 4y ago
    Don't forget about the countless wars of aggression the US has waged virtually everywhere on the globe in the last 80 years, or the constant 'regime changing' in unstable countries, most of them leading to an endless stream of refugees that end up on European shores. Right about now, the US was a major factor in Euromaidan, in an attempt to weaken both Russia and the EU (say hello to Mrs. Nuland, will ya?), which directly paved the way to today's Ukraino-Russian war.
mensetmanusman 4y ago
The US subsidizing defense spending has allowed the EU to vastly expand social welfare spending on healthcare and education. Those $100B in arms Germany is about to purchase will be that much less spending on social programs.
- DocTomoe 4y ago
  Germany is essentially the 'why not both' girl [1]. No worries, those 100B Euros will come right out of additional taxes. I want to point out that if we wouldn't get involved in foreign wars, we would not need that either. Last time we had a massive uptick of taxes for military spending (in the 1910s), we built a fleet to battle the British Navy (and we're still paying those taxes today). [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgk-lA12FBk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgk-lA12FBk

Jcowell 4y ago

Can I get a source on this? From my shallow understanding of history. Europe is the source of Europe’s problems.

atlasunshrugged 4y ago
Most does sound like quite a stretch but to be fair the U.S. has certainly caused some regional issues (e.g. slowing growth by cutting off trade with Iran, electronic surveillance in Europe on allies, pushing EU countries to buy American arms instead of developing domestic industries, pushing for large beneficial trade deals like nuclear plants that benefit American companies). But yes, most does not seem fair either to the U.S. or to Europe which does have some agency.
- DocTomoe 4y ago
  Don't forget about the countless wars of aggression the US has waged virtually everywhere on the globe in the last 80 years, or the constant 'regime changing' in unstable countries, most of them leading to an endless stream of refugees that end up on European shores. Right about now, the US was a major factor in Euromaidan, in an attempt to weaken both Russia and the EU (say hello to Mrs. Nuland, will ya?), which directly paved the way to today's Ukraino-Russian war.

mensetmanusman 4y ago

The US subsidizing defense spending has allowed the EU to vastly expand social welfare spending on healthcare and education. Those $100B in arms Germany is about to purchase will be that much less spending on social programs.

DocTomoe 4y ago
Germany is essentially the 'why not both' girl [1]. No worries, those 100B Euros will come right out of additional taxes. I want to point out that if we wouldn't get involved in foreign wars, we would not need that either. Last time we had a massive uptick of taxes for military spending (in the 1910s), we built a fleet to battle the British Navy (and we're still paying those taxes today). [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgk-lA12FBk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgk-lA12FBk