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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[–] Suoko@feddit.it 7 points 4 hours ago

Make him a present, some winter vacations in Switzerland and some summer ones in Italy. Cool those US guys down, down to the bottom of earth

[–] Prime_Minister_Keyes@lemm.ee 13 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours 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.

[–] ThomasCrappersGhost@feddit.uk 4 points 6 hours ago (3 children)

Has the USA ever won a war?

[–] scoobford@lemmy.zip 18 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

Yes, they win most of them. They mostly lose when they try to occupy a foreign country and do counterinsurgency.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_involving_the_United_States

[–] Devanismyname@lemmy.ca 1 points 49 minutes ago

Counter insurgency is tough to overcome. As you kill insurgents, more insurgents pop up because the initially killed insurgents were their family and friends. The only way to do it is to rule with an iron fist.

[–] LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 points 6 hours ago (2 children)

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

[–] chiliedogg@lemmy.world 1 points 23 minutes ago (1 children)

Desert Shield/Storm and Panama were overwhelmingly sucessful military operations because they had clear, achievable objectives. George HW Bush was a bastard, but his team could execute a military mission.

[–] FreakinSteve@lemmy.world 1 points 12 minutes ago

Also, the Iranian army didnt fight back because they didnt want to. Some even asked, "what took you so long?..."

[–] keyhoh@lemm.ee -3 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

So not a war since things have gotten so computer. Comforting.

[–] xor@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 4 hours ago
[–] Valmond@lemmy.world 0 points 2 hours ago

Their civil war?

[–] Raylon@lemmy.world 47 points 17 hours ago (8 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.

[–] Droggelbecher@lemmy.world 10 points 5 hours 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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[–] Ilovethebomb@lemm.ee 22 points 19 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.

[–] REDACTED@infosec.pub 7 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

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

[–] eric5949@lemmy.world 6 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

Oh thats easy, Europe becomes the enemy, which you already see happening. You dont say you're getting another country 's territory one way or another if they're not your enemy.

[–] Valmond@lemmy.world 1 points 2 hours ago

That's an enemy they'll have a hard time take on though.

[–] dmalteseknight@programming.dev 9 points 14 hours ago

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

[–] ammonium@lemmy.world 8 points 17 hours ago (1 children)
[–] Ilovethebomb@lemm.ee 4 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

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

[–] ammonium@lemmy.world 4 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

What I mean is the pivot to the east was pretty clear with Obama. With Trump? I think he sees China and Russia more as a role model than an opponent, but who knows what's going on in his mind.

[–] Ilovethebomb@lemm.ee 1 points 3 hours ago

Your guess is as good as mine.

[–] Teknikal@eviltoast.org 38 points 1 day ago* (last edited 23 hours ago) (2 children)

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

[–] Agent641@lemmy.world 30 points 21 hours ago (2 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."

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[–] jeena@piefed.jeena.net 51 points 1 day ago (3 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.

[–] WagyuSneakers@lemm.ee 1 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

It seems like they want to downsize. I wonder if Europeans can convince the orange guy to sell some equipment at a discount rather than ship it home.

[–] Valmond@lemmy.world 4 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

We'd better build our own IMO.

[–] peteyestee@feddit.org 2 points 2 hours ago

Yeah you guys need to build.

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