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Frankly, this is a luxury Western Europe enjoys solely because of their alliances with the United States. The Soviet Union would have continued to push westwar

by _2z1p 3y ago

Frankly, this is a luxury Western Europe enjoys solely because of their alliances with the United States. The Soviet Union would have continued to push westward had the United States and the NATO alliance not held them in check with the threat of superior military might. There are no European nations in the top ten military rankings by really any measure that matters… https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/military-size-by-country https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/military-... This is fine, it is just different priorities of governmental spending, but it is absolutely supported by American military hegemony.

triceratops 3y ago
France and Britain also had nukes throughout the Cold War. I don't think the Soviets would have just rolled through Western Europe.
- photonbeam 3y ago
  Especially with the deployment of nuclear land mines
- _2z1p 3y ago
  I wonder where they got those nukes from? Also, what about the remainder of Europe that did not have nuclear armaments? Communism is an ideology that demands world conquest and the extinction of Capitalism. The Soviets expanded as far as they could and absolutely would not have hesitated to conquer more of Europe without the threat of the United States military and NATO.
  - mcv 3y ago
    France and the UK got their own nukes. The rest of NATO got American nukes. And many NATO countries have pretty advanced militaries. Not large ones in absolute numbers, because they're not large countries, but absolutely more advanced than most non-NATO countries with very few exceptions (like Sweden). My point, however, is about your claim that all of this somehow subsidised social programs. Those social programs exist independently from US protection. Nobody denies that the US guaranteed the freedom of western Europe (and many other countries around the world). But that and social programs are two completely separate things.
    - weard_beard 3y ago
      In America they are definitely NOT separate. Our outsized military spending is a direct syphon of social spending. We even have common phrases like, "that will happen when teachers get all the money they need and the airforce has to hold a fundraiser bake-sale" meaning "when hell freezes over".
      - mcv 3y ago
        And yet the military expenditure is also used as social spending. Much of military spending is about job creation. It's the one field of manufacturing that never left the country.

by _2z1p 3y ago

triceratops 3y ago

France and Britain also had nukes throughout the Cold War. I don't think the Soviets would have just rolled through Western Europe.

photonbeam 3y ago
Especially with the deployment of nuclear land mines
_2z1p 3y ago
I wonder where they got those nukes from? Also, what about the remainder of Europe that did not have nuclear armaments? Communism is an ideology that demands world conquest and the extinction of Capitalism. The Soviets expanded as far as they could and absolutely would not have hesitated to conquer more of Europe without the threat of the United States military and NATO.
- mcv 3y ago
  France and the UK got their own nukes. The rest of NATO got American nukes. And many NATO countries have pretty advanced militaries. Not large ones in absolute numbers, because they're not large countries, but absolutely more advanced than most non-NATO countries with very few exceptions (like Sweden). My point, however, is about your claim that all of this somehow subsidised social programs. Those social programs exist independently from US protection. Nobody denies that the US guaranteed the freedom of western Europe (and many other countries around the world). But that and social programs are two completely separate things.
  - weard_beard 3y ago
    In America they are definitely NOT separate. Our outsized military spending is a direct syphon of social spending. We even have common phrases like, "that will happen when teachers get all the money they need and the airforce has to hold a fundraiser bake-sale" meaning "when hell freezes over".
    - mcv 3y ago
      And yet the military expenditure is also used as social spending. Much of military spending is about job creation. It's the one field of manufacturing that never left the country.