"America Unprepared for Cold War 2" Topic

The Europeans could be completely self sufficient in defence if they got their act together.

That would be nice …

Legion, Yes the excitement was there! And promises…sometimes the promise of a shower is enough! Maybe we ought to start a new Military Life Discussion Poll.

LOL !

Heh, not that I, as a 'Cold Warrior' have any direct experience. They once sent me to the Hebrides… and Lincoln on a Saturday night could be pretty dangerous (You wouldn't know man, you weren't there, etc)…

LOL !!!!

Bear in mind that the security provided by the US tax payer (in the end) also guarantees us influence over those regions and troops at hand, if something doesn't go the way we want it to.

America will tend to do the right thing, but it's a lot more inclined to do so if it makes sound business sense ;)

There's also the fact that our economy depends on the military. Government spending is something like 40% of GDP. Cut a quarter of that and it'll make 2008 look like childs play. Those tax dollars cascade into everything in our society.

And in response to the people discussing the VA, I wasn't intending to denigrate your experiences. The situation is unforgivable. I just get wary of the "Obama is the antichrist" talk that tends to go around. Politics is a pretty messy situation and simple answers are usually wrong.
Make sense? I probably explained it poorly.

As for European defenses, the truth is that as much as we like to talk about it, it's a gathering of countries with very few things in common. Getting to a point of economic integration took many years and the only reason there was anything resembling military integration was because of the Soviets. Most people don't see a point now, with the global economy being what it is.

Coming from Denmark, the only real purpose of our military, in the public eye, is for peace keeping missions and to keep young men occupied and out of trouble.