Subject: Re: More EU views on the trade deal
Yeah - because military bases that allow us to project power and control the military theater throughout continental Europe are just "a couple of acres here and there for US troops to hang out." That's why we cared so much about the Chagos Islands military facility, right? It was just a "couple of acres" to let troops hang out in?

Let me know how basing aircraft carriers in the port of say, Kiel helps out with deterring China in the Pacific.

Across Europe, one response to Trump's insistence on their increasing defense spending and signaling that the US isn't interested in being the Boss of Europe's military theater any more is that all those countries are prioritizing increasing their domestic military defense manufacturing capacity.

Uh, huh. And it's going to take the Germans 100 years to replace their artillery from 2004.

What, did you think that we could insist that they need to spend more on defense and stand on their own and not count on the U.S. to have their back, and they wouldn't take that to heart and do it in a way that actually lets them stand on their own?

I don't think you quite are coming to grips with today's European pol vs. the ones from even 20 years ago. This new bunch is more apt to throw their borders open and kneecap their domestic energy production than they are to defend anything.

How do you think Europe came to be even partially dependent on Russia for energy in the first place?