Re:Russian oil sold to India at 30% above Western price cap,...
by ethanbond on Tuesday October 03, 2023 @12:25PM
(#37754052)
A fact that tends to get forgotten in all these goofy "US is an aggressive empire" memes: host countries can get rid of US bases whenever they want.
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Re:Russian oil sold to India at 30% above Western price cap,...
by Georgelemental on Tuesday October 03, 2023 @12:50PM
(#37754386)
Yeah, good luck campaigning on that. Mysteriously, all your political opponents (who were at one another's throats 3 seconds ago) will consolidate, and their campaign coffers will suddenly swell with donations from the "National Endowment for Democracy" and friends. If you are really "lucky", you may even get strangely well-trained and well-armed militias opposing you!
Re:Russian oil sold to India at 30% above Western price cap,...
by lesuorac on Tuesday October 03, 2023 @01:25PM
(#37754899)
Those bases are a great source of income for the local economy.
There's a reason despite the US military routinely asking congress to close down local bases and consolidate buildings to decrease costs that congress never lets them. That's money their district no longer gets!
Re:Russian oil sold to India at 30% above Western price cap,...
by jacooper on Tuesday October 03, 2023 @04:46PM
(#37757321)
I hope this is sarcasm.
Re:Russian oil sold to India at 30% above Western price cap,...
by lesuorac on Wednesday October 04, 2023 @07:42AM
(#37763750)
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/07/14/base-closings-hot-potato-iss...
You can search for more years if you're inclined.
Re:Russian oil sold to India at 30% above Western price cap,...
by AYBABTME on Tuesday October 03, 2023 @01:13PM
(#37754732)
This is a convincing take but in reality, when Trump threatened to pull out troops from many of those nations, these nations weren't excited the slightest about it.
Re:Russian oil sold to India at 30% above Western price cap,...
by dmpk2k on Tuesday October 03, 2023 @01:31PM
(#37754974)
Yes, the leaders of those nations depend on US influence (and sometimes hard power) to remain in power.
I don’t want to oversimplify things, and yet: how did that come about?
Re:Russian oil sold to India at 30% above Western price cap,...
by reducesuffering on Tuesday October 03, 2023 @02:14PM
(#37755546)
Poland is the biggest EU supporter of US military presence. You think Andrzej Duda is a patzy of US influence?
Re:Russian oil sold to India at 30% above Western price cap,...
by AYBABTME on Tuesday October 03, 2023 @02:47PM
(#37755924)
That's a bit of a ridiculously cynical take. The majority of democratic US allies that harbor US bases have a population that supports the presence of the troops. And those in power there aren't so because of the US military power, they were elected.
For dysfunctional or undemocratic nations, it's different.
Re:Russian oil sold to India at 30% above Western price cap,...
by nradov on Tuesday October 03, 2023 @01:16PM
(#37754772)
And yet none of that happened when the Philippines evicted the US military back in 1992. There were armed militia groups opposing the central government but those had been around before and the US government never supported them.
Now the Philippines are inviting the US military back to deter Chinese aggression.