Closing US Bases in Germany

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there are 8 us airbases on british soil, and blair has recently given permission for the US to use one of our radar arrays which is the most advanced on the surface of the planet in aid of his controversial 'star wars' project

"What has America done to you or your country that makes you hate it so? "
take the world for granted

 

Why are there still any US bases in Germany?
What are we protecting them from?

The USSR....? Oh wait! Are they still around?

*grumbles some as Tax Day approaches*

Where is my peace dividend!?

 

Aces, there are two reasons that I can guess at off the top of my head.
1: The bases are there, they're built, and the inertia of bureaucracies everywhere makes it difficult for any major changes to take place.
2: The United States is the world's only superpower, and wants to remain that way. Thus, America wishes to be able to project its power anywhere around the world with a minimum of hassle. You could view that as good or bad. I know of no precedent, but I figure that if a country asked the Us to abandon a base, they probably would. [edit -- Grammar]

[ February 20, 2003, 04:51: Message edited by: Depaara ]

 

Shoshino,

This was the initial post that I was replying in an offbeat manner to.

I replied,

You then said,

Well, look at the first quote in this message. You use 'your'(twice) which is possessive when in fact the context of the message indicates you meant 'you are' which should be 'you're.' I hope this answers your (possessive) question.

Here is the thing with extremely poor writing: it is certainly excusable by those who visit the board and don't speak English as a first language. However, for those who do, to fail to spend the very small amount of time necessary to make your post readable and as correct as is reasonable under the circumstances indicates a lack of respect for others imo. Also, it indicates that there wasn't much effort put into the post which, perhaps wrongly, devalues the
post.

That's just my off topic 2 cents but it seems to have become an issue.

[ February 20, 2003, 05:38: Message edited by: Laches ]

 

You know, I forget all the in's and out's of the draft.

What the upper age? Isn't it like 35 or something? Depending on the severity of the callup.

Man. I know my damn number is right up there at the top of the list. They like repeat customers.

But either way, I'd rather go back to isolationism for a while. Close all our bases. Hell, close the ones in Britian if that's what they want. We can get our people over to Britian fast enough to back them up, anytime.

But pull them out of Korea. And Kuwait. And the UAE (or at least, stop making port calls). Close down Diego Garcia. And Atsugi. And Germany and Italy.

The whole world. Pull all our people back home. And set them up watching the borders and sniffing for cocaine.

And just kinda, see what the rest of the world does for a while. We've got plenty of stuff to keep us entertained here. We've got kids shooting each other on the streets and schools. And 10 and 12 year old female prostitutes. And DUI's.

Besides. It'll give us time to come up with a fuel alternative. And we can open up a few more breeder reactors, and cycle some of that nasty stuff through there for a little power generation.

Yep. Pull all our people back home for awhile. I'm totally for it.

 

I think 26 is the age limit for the draft, barring some total nuclear war scenario.

26 was for WW II wasn't it? I doubt any war will ever be bigger.

Now I generally support the US military, but bases are good on the front lines. During the Cold War West Germany was the front line. Now Germany is a democracy surrounded by other democracies. No need for bases.

US troops would be more useful stationed elsewhere I think. Middle East, South Korea are two front line hot spots that come to mind. Of coarse the weather isn't as nice in either of those places.

As to the spelling and grammar here, there is a spell checker at the top of each page, just to the left of the Chatroom. It doesn't help grammar I fear...

 

Hmm... I neglect to check the boards for a day and this thread turns into a mess.

I'm sorry for the unsolicited advice but let's keep to the topic. I realize that it's natural to defend one's country or region when it feels that it is being attacked. I'm surprised the mods haven't stepped in. Let's use PMs. I cringe when I read your posts. Perhaps others too.

On the lighter side, I am willing to correct your grammar if you wish. I'm neither from the U.S. nor the U.K. but I'm fairly proficient in both versions of the English language. I would be a neutral arbiter.

[ February 20, 2003, 18:45: Message edited by: Charlie ]

 

ejsmith, I like your idea of a period of isolationism. World consensus - including many voice in the US - seems to be that no one likes having the US play policeman. OK, so we won't. The other roles that will go out the window at the same time are doctor (no more government-sponsored medical aid or vaccinations), fireman (no more natural-disaster rescue efforts), and caterer (no more food aid).

Do that for a while and it will be easy to see if the US takes the world for granted, or the other way around.

 

"The United States is the world's only superpower"
see, this is another thing which the people of the world dont like, the US is not the worlds only superpower at all:

superpower
noun [C]
a country which has very great political and military power

which includes alot more countries of the world.

laches, ok, so were both wrong, because if i had bothered with the apostrophes then it would have looked like this
" and another thing, your' an american your' hardly in any place to dictate to me the correct use of the english language"
because its not you are (singluar) its you are (plural) because i was refering to americans on the whole.

"However, for those who do, to fail to spend the very small amount of time necessary to make your post readable and as correct as is reasonable under the circumstances indicates a lack of respect for others imo"
i speak 6 languages, and as ive said before, im not going to write an english essay every time i want to say something here, it is a waste of time.

"I'm surprised the mods haven't stepped in"
if the mods did step in then it would completely devalue debates here, without emotion a debate is nothing.

"ejsmith, I like your idea of a period of isolationism. World consensus - including many voice in the US - seems to be that no one likes having the US play policeman. OK, so we won't. The other roles that will go out the window at the same time are doctor (no more government-sponsored medical aid or vaccinations), fireman (no more natural-disaster rescue efforts), and caterer (no more food aid)."
yep, go solve your own problems first, when your enlightened maybe the world will give you enough respect to tell them how to live. with regards to foreign aid, the withdrawl of american aid probably wouldnt make that much impact since the US only sents supplies instead of doing what europe does and sending them the means to grow their own food, boar to get their own water, and learn to look after themselves, the world doesnt want to live on handouts.
with regards to disaster aid, the US doesnt send much, they only send it when their assets may be in danger, they dont send aid fo japan when earthquakes strike, they dont send aid to aus to help fight the bush fires.

 

WOW, look what I started!

I'd feel bad, but I'm seeing at least one fruit of this futility ... Shoshino found the shift key ... and that makes all the difference!

Sho ... really, no hard feelings. I think you and I will disagree about most things in this section of the Forum, but we're both adults and most of these opinions (mine included) are hardly worth the keyboard they are typed on. Friends?

 

That's the spirit, Rallymama! If people want to bite the hand that aids them, then they shouldn't expect that hand to always be there. It's easy to criticize the daylights out of any country's foreign policy, but a lot harder to come up with a better solution.

 

"Sho ... really, no hard feelings. I think you and I will disagree about most things in this section of the Forum, but we're both adults and most of these opinions (mine included) are hardly worth the keyboard they are typed on. "
its good to disagree, otherwise debateing would be boring.

"Friends? "
sure, although it will be short lived since i pass back out on monday, and then ill be gone for a month... well, unless war breaks out in which case probably longer

 

The US is most certainliy the worlds only superpower. Atleast if you compare it to the rest of the world. Sure Russia and China may be really powerful but they are still dwarfed by the might of the US.

[ February 20, 2003, 19:59: Message edited by: joacqin ]

 

didnt you read the definition of superpower?

 

I did read it, but apparently you didnt read my post.

 

You all.

I'm not saying "let the world see just how important the US is". Not at all. I prefer life, to death.

But it will come to our doorstep within 20 years. And by our doorstep, I'm talking planes dropping bombs on LA, and missiles landing in Houston with mustard gas and all the other nifty CBR toys. Make no mistake. The number of American casualities, on United States soil (Alaska and Hawaii included), will number in the millions. Tens of millions, I'd guess.

There will be dead Germans. And Britts. And Italians. And Croats. And Israelis. And Palestineans. And Kuwaitis. I wouldn't even be slightly surprised if Israel got pushed back, to the point where they had nothing to lose, and opened up with nuclear weapons. South Korea, maybe. India and Pakistan, if the Pakistanis started helping all the other Arab nations, and got nuked, and felt threatened by India to the point where those two started popping firecrackers.

It may very well not be bloody, at all. That whole British thing against blood might not come into play. People might very well not get the chance to bleed.

But, there'd be some memorials. And you wouldn't even have to spend the cash to see them or build them. They'd make all the history books, for generations. Or at least, generations down the line a ways, when people had the time and ability to make books again.

You could visit the pockmark that was labeled "New York". And the one that said "Houston". And the one that said "Tinker Airforce Base, Oklahoma".

And that's the beauty of being president. You're damned if you do, and you're damned if you don't. But every last one of them (including Clinton) felt like they'd rather go down in the history books as being "agressive", than waiting until there's twenty million dead, and people label him (her) as "negligent". Or "incompetent".

Which is what everyone was yelling after those two planes hit the WTC towers. Why didn't the CIA/FBI/NSA prevent it?

Negligence.

Which it wasn't. But for everyone looking for someone else to blame (rather than themselves), it was a good target. It wasn't funding. Or jurisdiction. Or recruiting. Or social security. Or education.

 

Just to clarify:

I am not against emotion. I said that the mods should have stepped in because a lot of the posts became off topic. That devalues debates.

[ February 21, 2003, 09:38: Message edited by: Charlie ]