this post was submitted on 16 Mar 2025
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According to former United States general Ben Hodges, the withdrawal of US troops from Europe is only a matter of time. In an interview with SonntagsBlick, he advises Switzerland to prepare for war.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 58 minutes ago)

Tangentially related, he once said: "I had a German tell me one time, he said, the two pillars for us are NATO and the EU. NATO is for life, EU is for quality of life." I wonder how that'll play out in the near future.
EDIT: corrected link.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

Has the USA ever won a war?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 57 minutes ago

Every war they've ever declared. They just haven't declared war since WW2

[–] [email protected] 29 points 12 hours ago (5 children)

If anyone is interested in the state of things in Switzerland:

Our defense is in chaos right now. A scandal in our state-owned but public weapons manufacturer just broke a few weeks ago and shortly after the secretary of the departement of defense announced her resignation. We will see if the newly elected one will improve the situation.

The army is generally seen as somewhat of a joke, especially by people who served, which is more than half of all Swiss men. We like to call it a "Pfadiverein" (boy scouts association).

Even with all that, the right wing parties want to give a shitload more money to defense, and cut costs in social spending and foreign aid to compensate. Left of centre the need to improve defense is also accepted, but 1) before the army gets more money, they need to get their shit together and 2) more important than the army itself is integration with the european security Infrastructure (the left parties are also very pro-EU). The centre politicians usually mix blth stances and lean more one or the other way.

Also we still stand to buy fighter jets from the US, and only the left parties are calling to cancel the deal.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 16 minutes ago

If it makes you feel any better, we have a joke in Austria that we might as well not have an army, because we border 1) NATO, 2) Switzerland, and if either of those become a threat, we might as well capitulate immediately.

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 13 hours ago (3 children)

“According to everything I hear from Washington, Europe is no longer a priority.” Trump sees China as the main opponent of the US.

This didn't start with Trump, it has been building for a long time. I haven't seen anyone spell it out so clearly before though.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 hour ago

Soo. Uhh.. what exactly happens when US loses it's soft power and trust in Europe and Europe slowly cozies up to China?

[–] dmalteseknight 5 points 9 hours ago

Frankly I think Trump sees western nations not led by dictators as threats.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 12 hours ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 hours ago

Oh, this is exactly what I was saying, this has been going on since Obama.

[–] [email protected] 35 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago) (2 children)

Anyone taking bets which Country gets threatened next I'm thinking Jamaica had to hand over 50percent of its rum.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

"Puerto Rico needs to end it's vicious trade war against the US or risk it's government being overthrown and made a US state."

[–] [email protected] 3 points 15 hours ago

They better start exporting their bountiful electricity! They got so much of it, enough for a good 3 or 4 days of AI questions about how awesome our beautiful leader Mr orange is.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 13 hours ago

This isn't really a threat, because the person saying it doesn't make those decisions.

[–] [email protected] 43 points 20 hours ago (2 children)

It's high time that we throw out the US army from Europe. They've been waging war in the middle east from Rammstein for decades.

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[–] [email protected] 152 points 1 day ago (5 children)

As bad as it sounds, if our European leaders can get their head out of their collective US-aligned asses, it could finally be a push to a more cohesive EU-defence policy that is not dependant on US logistics and firepower.

We have allowed ourselves to be way to complacent for far too long.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 hour ago

it could finally be a push to a more cohesive EU-defence policy that is not dependant on US logistics and firepower.

I think the main reason why the EU doesn't care much about defense is that their people don't "value" war as much as other nations.

They live comfortably. They have their social services. Life is pretty good, for the most part.

Trying to convince them to go die in a war isn't going to be very popular. I genuinely believe the Western world is in for a rude awakening when an actual conflict breaks out.

It's not just logistics. These are people's lives.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 hours ago

Collectively European nations have the economy and technology to build a Military Industrial Complex to rival the US... I hope they truly wake up before it's too late, least the birthplace of western civilization also become it's grave 😢

[–] [email protected] 20 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

US has a dependency on EU logistics

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[–] [email protected] 55 points 23 hours ago (3 children)
[–] [email protected] 31 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

Switzerland is always prepared for war. Prepared to stay the fuck out of it and profit from it.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 12 hours ago

I mean, if that’s an option …

[–] [email protected] 2 points 13 hours ago

Doing my service 🫡 (I am a conscript and don't want this)

[–] [email protected] 10 points 19 hours ago

My exact reaction lol. News is like satire now.

[–] [email protected] 125 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Humans are so fucking stupid.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 20 hours ago

Standing in the middle of a fully stocked supermarket saying, “well, I guess this is it. We have no choice but to kill and eat each other.”

[–] [email protected] 78 points 1 day ago (8 children)

Most are ok. It's the spoiled nepo babies who've grown into privileged assholes that are the problem.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 hours ago

some people have to vote for them and put them up there. So i would say most is accurate sadly :/

[–] [email protected] 69 points 1 day ago (22 children)

Plus the morons that keep voting them into power.

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[–] [email protected] 23 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago) (1 children)

US troops often withdraw leaving way too much equipment behind.

I better not see civilians with "cool military" gear! That's worse than any weeb or m'ladyian/fedorian.

But maybe I get to burn a Humvee or two since we "lack" those (now obviously surplus too) cybertrucks over here.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

Shoving helos off a carrier deck comes to mind, when we were actually trying to evacuate refugees instead of lowering plane flaps to push off the hangers on. Guess the Taliban has Strykers and MRAPs now just like our cops, yay murica

[–] [email protected] 4 points 14 hours ago (2 children)

I feel sorry for their mechanics.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 13 hours ago

They’re about to learn the real lesson of the Big Green Weenie…logistics

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