this post was submitted on 27 Jan 2025
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Europe

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President Donald Trump plans to pull about 20,000 U.S. troops from Europe, according to a leading Italian news agency.

A European diplomatic source told ANSA that Trump, who entered office on Monday for a second term, wants to reduce the American contingent in Europe by about 20 percent and plans to ask for a "financial contribution" for the maintenance of the remaining troops.

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[–] [email protected] 116 points 2 days ago (3 children)

As a European, I say fine and sure.

But then we also withdraw from the Plaza accords.

Ever since China has winded down their US debt holdings, we have picked up the tab and the EU countries are now the largest foreign holder of treasuries.

Time to start selling.

And also, we only buy from European defense firms, no more spending on American defense.

[–] [email protected] 28 points 2 days ago (5 children)

what people don't understand is that europe must say goodbye to america, things are turning.

we (europe) should start considering being more independent (from the USA) and maybe, just maybe, actually talking to our eastern neighbours.

[–] [email protected] 39 points 2 days ago (12 children)

our eastern neighbours

... you mean Ukraine, no?

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

But then we also withdraw from the Plaza accords.

The Plaza Accord ended in 1987. It was replaced with the Louvre Accord.

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[–] [email protected] 84 points 3 days ago (2 children)

I would appreciate if we could maybe not spit in the face of our allies at every available opportunity.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 2 days ago

Nazis do that, and they've hijacked America for the time being.

[–] [email protected] 42 points 2 days ago

πŸ˜‚ we elected the wrong party for that.

[–] [email protected] 59 points 2 days ago (4 children)

Fair enough. The less US military presence in Europe the better. We shouldn't be reliant on the US for our security needs. European and NATO nations need to make sure they're pulling their weight.

[–] [email protected] 44 points 2 days ago (1 children)

European and NATO nations need to make sure they’re pulling their weight.

Which is something that every President starting with Bill Clinton has been saying but the EU has had its fingers stuck in its ears while going "La la la I can't year you!". They learned nothing from the Yugoslav Wars, didn't wake up for Crimea and it took extreme clanging of the alarm bells to get them to respond to Russo-Ukrainian War.

The EU has more people than the United States with an economy well capable of providing for common defense. It's time for them to quit faffing about and get to it. The US was never supposed to be the eternal linchpin of NATO.

Obligatory: Donald Trump is a cancer.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 days ago

There is a reason Russia does not want Ukraine to join the EU. Even the pretty bad state of the EU militaries ends up with a fighting force which is larger then Russias and has some pretty good tech. The issue is mostly organizing it all.

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 2 days ago (1 children)

It’s time for Europe to defend itself.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 days ago

It has been high time to get rid of all and any US reliance when that orange fascist Muppet got elected the the first time.

[–] [email protected] 63 points 3 days ago (1 children)

wants to reduce the American contingent in Europe by about 20 percent and plans to ask for a "financial contribution" for the maintenance of the remaining troops.

Eat a dick, USA. Some partner. Maybe they’ll leave late like they showed up late for WWII after waffling about which side to join.

[–] [email protected] 30 points 2 days ago

After the door hits them in the arse on their way out, be sure to repatriate all the land for those US bases. Make them pay 300% more for the land, after this term if they want to come back.

And use whatever money is saved to bolster one's own national military. We can't rely on the US any more for defence.

[–] [email protected] 49 points 2 days ago (4 children)

Given his threats towards Greenland i'd be happy to not have a hundred thousand US troops all over Europe to wreak havoc, if Trump decides to invade.

Also Europe has been a staging area for US invasions, wars and drone muders long enough.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 days ago (2 children)

When will the US-made fighter jets stop working?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 days ago (1 children)

They're planning on adding a paywall to their startup.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 days ago

The pilot has to yell "I'M LOVIN' IT" into the radio with sufficient enthusiasm otherwise the landing gear won't come down.

[–] Zink 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I wonder that too. Hiding a kill switch deep within the F-35 is just the kind of shit our government would do. Maybe make the kill switch only able to be activated by something in the F-22, so it won’t ever be relevant unless things go really sideways.

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[–] [email protected] 47 points 3 days ago (8 children)

Can't wait to see our country join the bad guys in WW3. Exciting stuff

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[–] [email protected] 48 points 3 days ago

"financial contribution"

That doesn't sound mafia-like at all.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Don't threaten us with a good time

[–] [email protected] 29 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I say pull them all, that would cripple their power projection towards Africa, Europe and the Middle East, and move forward with the creation of a EU Army.

[–] [email protected] 31 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (7 children)

Maybe. I think this supports Putin's goals more than anything.

Something to keep an eye on is the AEGIS Ashore platforms in Poland and Romania. These are ICBM tracking and interception facilities, part of the US MDA's Missile Defense System, and their specific purpose in being where they are is to defend Europe from Russian missiles. You can bet Putin would love to see them gone. If you see any news about reduced US military or MDA presence in those countries, you should be worried.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Germany is buying Arrow3, which is anti ICBM.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago

So having an interceptor is good, definitely the sites in Poland and Romania don't really provide enough coverage. But, the interceptor is only one part of the defense. Before you can use it, you need an early-warning sensor which can spot the flare of a missile launch on the ground (or at sea) - most effectively done with a network of observation satellites. Then that sensor needs to hand off its data to a tracking radar system - preferably one that can track the missile from its boost phase through the atmosphere all the way up into its sub-orbital path. You will probably need several different radar systems at different locations with different angles and ranges to do this effectively (all actively sharing data with each other).

Modern ICBMs are nasty things with multiple warheads and also multiple decoy warheads, and they're constantly dropping off empty fuel tanks and cowlings and other bits of hardware to shed weight during flight, so you need a highly sensitive radar to discriminate among the various debris and identify the real warhead(s). Once you've got that, you can track it for a bit to determine its trajectory and then you can feed that data to an interceptor system to hit it.

Also, explosions aren't worth much in space so your typical interceptor uses a "kinetic warhead" which is basically just a solid chunk of metal (it's a guided, rocket-powered bullet). You have to hit the target directly. If you miss by half a meter, you missed.

All of this identification, tracking, discrimination, targetting and intercepting needs to happen within the very few minutes of the ICBM's flight path, preferably before the warheads separate and spread out. The point being, it's a very difficult thing to actually accomplish and requires a lot of precision, and many different technologies working together in real-time, which is why I say that the MDA's current system couldn't be replaced in less than 20 years.

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 2 days ago

Don't let the door hit you on the way out you fucking loser

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 days ago

Let me expand a bit on that idea: get the fuck out! Go away.

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