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 6 points 3 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 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 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 5 points 5 hours ago (3 children)

Has the USA ever won a war?

[–] scoobford@lemmy.zip 13 points 3 hours ago

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

[–] Valmond@lemmy.world 0 points 1 hour ago

Their civil war?

[–] LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

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

[–] keyhoh@lemm.ee -2 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

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

[–] xor@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 2 hours ago
[–] Raylon@lemmy.world 43 points 16 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 8 points 4 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 21 points 18 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 6 points 5 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 5 points 3 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 1 hour ago

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

[–] dmalteseknight@programming.dev 8 points 13 hours ago

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

[–] ammonium@lemmy.world 7 points 16 hours ago (1 children)
[–] Ilovethebomb@lemm.ee 3 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

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

[–] ammonium@lemmy.world 3 points 3 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 2 hours ago

Your guess is as good as mine.

[–] Teknikal@eviltoast.org 37 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 22 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 29 points 20 hours ago (1 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 50 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 2 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 1 hour ago (1 children)

We'd better build our own IMO.

[–] peteyestee@feddit.org 2 points 43 minutes ago

Yeah you guys need to build.

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[–] RetroGradeBE@lemmy.world 169 points 1 day ago (6 children)

As bad as it sounds, if our European leaders can get their head out of their collective US-aligned asses, it could finally be a push to a more cohesive EU-defence policy that is not dependant on US logistics and firepower.

We have allowed ourselves to be way to complacent for far too long.

[–] cool@lemmings.world 5 points 5 hours ago

it could finally be a push to a more cohesive EU-defence policy that is not dependant on US logistics and firepower.

I think the main reason why the EU doesn't care much about defense is that their people don't "value" war as much as other nations.

They live comfortably. They have their social services. Life is pretty good, for the most part.

Trying to convince them to go die in a war isn't going to be very popular. I genuinely believe the Western world is in for a rude awakening when an actual conflict breaks out.

It's not just logistics. These are people's lives.

[–] Darkmoon_UK@lemm.ee 2 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

Collectively European nations have the economy and technology to build a Military Industrial Complex to rival the US... I hope they truly wake up before it's too late, lest the birthplace of western civilization also become it's grave 😢

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[–] 1984@lemmy.today 132 points 1 day ago (37 children)

Humans are so fucking stupid.

Standing in the middle of a fully stocked supermarket saying, “well, I guess this is it. We have no choice but to kill and eat each other.”

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[–] Brumefey@sh.itjust.works 55 points 1 day ago (3 children)
[–] Zess@lemmy.world 33 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

Switzerland is always prepared for war. Prepared to stay the fuck out of it and profit from it.

[–] urandom@lemmy.world 4 points 16 hours ago

I mean, if that’s an option …

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