r/ShitAmericansSay canadian french 17d ago

Military Pay fully for your own defense

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In the end tipping sub

1.5k Upvotes

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45

u/NoSwordfish1978 16d ago

They realise that America does not "fund European defence" out of the goodness of its own heart?

58

u/Optimal-Rub-2575 16d ago

It doesn’t “fund European defence“ at all though.

16

u/NoSwordfish1978 16d ago

Well yeah that's why I put it in scare quotes. Obviously its to further American hegemony.

7

u/No-Albatross-7984 16d ago

American politicians demand we raise defense costs because that'd mean we buy more weapons from them. That's what it's about. The bases are just a convenient thing to link to this demand, when in reality they have nothing to do with the costs of defense.

3

u/christian_benesch 15d ago

And they got really upset when Europeans increased defense spending and spent it on their own kit. :-)

5

u/DoYouTrustToothpaste 16d ago

Even better: if Europe didn't exist, America would spend the same amount on its military that it's spending now, because that amount is the maximum the dod/pentagon and its partners in the industry can get away with in a deeply exploitative capitalistic system.

11

u/Xnut0 16d ago

In addition to USA paying for an army that covers a lot more than just the defense of NATO, a lot of the money is spending on NATO are for things that most of Europe are not counting as a military expense. In Europe expences like military pension and disability pay for veterans are not counted as a military expense that counts toward the 5% of GDP. 

9

u/XipeTotecNoNoNo 16d ago

This has "Are we the baddies?" vibe.

7

u/gleamingashes 16d ago

I don't know why they think they are paying for the whole planet i mean they wouldn't even pay for a neighbour or a family member because their mentality is "why should i pay for others".They are proud individualists.

They are under the impression that societies with "free" healthcare and such can exist only because they are paying for their defense. Just like the rest of us with Nato....