the_dunk_tank @hexbear.net Wheaties [she/her] @hexbear.net 2 yr. ago

this 2019 survey was posted to reddit, hilarity ensues

https://old.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/12hsred/which_countries_would_citizens_of_the_us_uk/

some great stuff here, but this one is my favorite:

As a Canadian, I sympathize with Americans in this thread who may feel resentful. But pro-tip guys — if you want to understand why Germans feel this way, don’t downvote the Germans telling you why they feel this way.

[in reply] They're being downvoted because their reasons are bullshit and ignorant exceptionalist propaganda. Theyre also coming across as ungrateful dependent children, especially given the current circumstances that the US is currently ONCE AGAIN taking responsibility for a war on their continent that they caused. Admittedly, they caused it indirectly this time, through irresponsibly linking their energy economy inextricably to a rogue, imperialist petrostate, rather than through the genocide that's their usual schtick.

:laugh

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Smart people have been saying for a long time that the sooner we stop spending money on a massive military to maintain our global hegemony the better. I had hoped Obama would be the one to do it but he couldn't make it happen, he was too worried about something bad happening on his watch and not getting re-elected.

The goal is to no longer be a global hegemony, not to maintain it through other means. Every global hegemony has lost its status eventually by ignoring the welfare of their own population to maintain its military power. Some outright collapse (Rome) and others fade from power gracefully and start spending their wealth on their citizens (UK).

US is considered to be the greatest threat to peace in the world

In general, Europe depends on the US for defense and to protect their interests

53% of Germans would not intervene to protect a NATO ally. As for NATO treaties, it seems that Europe is the one that sees no point. A majority of Germans are against military assistance for a NATO ally that is in a military conflict with Russia.

NATO's European Allies Won't Fight for Article 5

And at least half in Germany, France and Italy are unwilling to use military force to defend other NATO allies against Russian aggression.

Europeans generally expect the U.S. to use military force to defend a NATO ally from a Russian attack, but they are less supportive of using their own armed forces under the same circumstances.

A lot of hate Europeans have for the US is not only a product of their ignorance of their dependence on the US, it's also because of their dependence on the US. Europeans take the US for granted and many of those that are aware of their dependence on the US still hate the US because playing second fiddle to the US stings their pride.
- I'm assuming this is a copypaste of a reddit post; it oozes reddit. The hyperlinks and bullet points laid out to establish the poster as The Adult in the Room to us plebians, but through blind patriotic arrogance, entirely misses that Europeans resent America for it's warmongering, it's ambivalence to the UN, and expectation of all NATO nations to play ball in America's wars (on their continent) while their own material conditions get worse
  
  Maybe it's my Reddit brain that hasn't fully recovered.
  
  Europeans resent America for it’s warmongering
  
  Oh come on, they've resented us for decades. Ever since the adults in the room stopped them from being fascists like they really wanted. They've never forgiven us for "saving" them from Naziism.
  
  while their own material conditions get worse
  
  Europeans have fantastic material conditions. They can afford to spend generously on a welfare state because America subsidizes them. And why the fuck do we give ten or eleven figures every year to wealthy first-world nations?
  
  We need to grant their requests and pull our troops out of there. Stop the occupation, it's been 80 years already, when were we planning on leaving? NATO was intended as a defensive alliance. Last three NATO wars were the offensive invasion of Afghanistan, offensive invasion of Libya and the proxy war in Ukraine. All unmitigated disasters. All we get in return is condescension from the intellectuals and commercial exploitation by the competitors that the "global order" has created.
  
  NATO was intended as a defensive alliance
  
  NATO being defensive has never been anything but propaganda. It was explicitly founded to combat socialist influence in Europe. It has always been about securing the interests of imperialist capitalist. What it does today is the same shit it has always done.
  
  They’ve never forgiven us for “saving” them from Naziism.
  
  Giving the US credit for saving Europe from naziism is kinda weird. By far the biggest contributor to allied victory in WWII were the Soviets and the Red Army.
  
  Who is going to invade europe if amerca stops "subsidizing" them? Countries like iran spend a smaller percentage of theur economy in their military than your average europen nation. And they are contantly under threat. I would argue it is actually the europeans proping up the american military industry.
- The UK is fading from power gracefully? They're having a neo-fascist epileptic seizure who doesn't want any international friends because they won't admit how great and definitely an empire the UK still is.

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