Former US general advises Switzerland to prepare for war
www.swissinfo.ch
According to former United States general Ben Hodges, the withdrawal of US troops from Europe is only a matter of time. He advises Switzerland to prepare for war.

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.

  • Jeena@piefed.jeena.netEnglish
    61·
    1 hour ago

    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.

  • Evil_Shrubbery@lemm.eeEnglish
    9·
    3 hours ago

    US troops often withdraw leaving way too much equipment behind.

    I better not see civilians with “cool military” gear! That’s worst than any weeb or m’ladyian/fedorian.

    But maybe I get to burn a Humvee or two since we “lack” those (now obviously surplus too) cybertrucks over here.

  • RetroGradeBE@lemmy.worldEnglish
    85·
    7 hours ago

    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.

    • HellsBelle@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      553·
      7 hours ago

      Most are ok. It’s the spoiled nepo babies who’ve grown into privileged assholes that are the problem.

        • umbrella@lemmy.mlEnglish
          212·
          5 hours ago

          electoralism is not the root cause of this particular problem

          • Takapapatapaka@lemmy.worldEnglish
            1·
            4 hours ago

            I don’t get what happened here. Did you really said “electoralism is not the root cause of fascism”, meaning that power would end up corrupted no matter what, and people actually downvoted you on .world, meaning they would think that electoralism IS a problem ? That’s not at all the cliché I have for either .ml and .world folks.

            Or, since your original comment was edited later than its reply, did you edit it to make it say something else ?

            • umbrella@lemmy.mlEnglish
              1·
              49 minutes ago

              I added the word root, because i recognize it bears some influence. im not a native english speaker so sometimes what i type diverges from what i mean.

              clarifying: i mean that elections have already been corrupted and just a show. as evidenced by the fact the “more reasonable party of moderates” enacts more and more right wing policies to the point they are actually just conservatives now. this is not just an US phenomenon either, i live the same dilemma.

            • umbrella@lemmy.mlEnglish
              35·
              5 hours ago

              electoralism. sorry for using hard words, didnt know you were a ‘hurr ml’ person.

              it means that fascism would get to power anyway, regardless of you scribbling on a paper in favour of diet fascism or not.

              • Diplomjodler@lemmy.worldEnglish
                31·
                4 hours ago

                So how do you decide who gets to govern, if not through elections? And yes, I am very much a “hurr ml” person. I’ve rarely seen such an accumulation of blockheads outside r/thedonald, back in the day.

                • umbrella@lemmy.mlEnglish
                  11·
                  1 hour ago

                  its not about deciding who to govern here. burgeois elections in a burgeois state will only elect people aligned with their agenda, which means you will keep walking towards fascism regardless of who wins an election, and none of the alternatives will actually enact your will, even when they have a majority. democrats and their warmongering are especially bad to us in the periphery of the planet

                  as for solutions, join a leftist political organization or union. it will involve talking to people around you, striking, helping and building community and participating in direct action with systemic change in mind. the more people get involved, deeper gets the change we can enact. it doesn’t have to involve capitalist institutions at all. in most socialist/anarchist systems they chose their leaders, yes, by debating and voting in a council but that assumes the system is not rigged against us, which pretty obviously is in capitalism for the reasons mentioned above and more.

                  you think us as blockheads because you probably read no political theory beyond liberalism, if that. be more open minded towards leftists, and do a bit of studying and you will notice our ideals are close to the left-leaning liberals. we think you as blockheads because you keep trying to change things in a misguided or misinformed way that is pretty obviously not solving any problems.

                  you can shake your fists all you want at the hefty percentage of people that recognize this (not only us leftists btw, which are a tiny minority in the US) and doesnt bother to vote, but you won’t change anything because a compelling candidate for leadership is not viable in the current system. my country has mandatory voting and nothing changes either, electoralism is not the solution.

      • credo@lemmy.worldEnglish
        51·
        6 hours ago

        Most

        Are you sure?

        In any event, its probably a game of tug of war, and the decisions we make as a society depend greatly on how society’s parents were raised.

        • HellsBelle@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          3·
          5 hours ago

          Yes I’m sure, because most people are not psychopathic, sociopathic or super-rich assholes.

          In fact only a few are at least 2 out of 3 there. The problem is they’re also the ones with the most power.

          • credo@lemmy.worldEnglish
            1·
            5 hours ago

            The question at hand is stupidity. I’m not sure why you invented different problems to discuss.

            This type of discourse is pretty common around here though…

  • werefreeatlast@lemmy.worldEnglish
    440·
    7 hours ago

    I’m so ready to never fly or drive to the 51st or 52nd states or Alaska. Alaska and Hawaii and Puerto Rico are the WTF parts of the US. Like how come they are not just independent nations?

    • kreskin@lemmy.worldEnglish
      22·
      5 hours ago

      Hawaii was an independent nation, until they allowed some US business interests in. Those businessman bolstered by a US Marines contingent + some artillery and a tugboat with a single cannon on it invaded when a new constitution was written by the Queen that would strip the companies of some power and give it to the poor. They imprisoned the queen. After a failed attempt at rescuing her and a “trial” by a hastily set up “US military court” she signed over the country to the US in exchange for the release of her would-be rescuers, who would have been executed. In 1993 the US apologized to Hawaii and acknowledged that the actions had been illegal and a coup d’tat of a legitimate government, and an illegal use of military force. But there were no reparations or offers to return Hawaiians to power.

      Many Hawaiians are still pretty vocal that they’d like the US to get the eff out of their country. They are disorganized though and theres a colossal amount of white wealthy that are against making the injustice right in even small ways. Capitalism is insidious and unaccountable. It doesn’t balk at murder and uses laws only when it benefits them and ignores them otherwise.

  • alykanas@slrpnk.netEnglish
    248·
    8 hours ago

    It’s hard to know where to begin with people like this. They are more ideologically unhinged than anyone in the Middle East, more indoctrinated than any communist, more institutionalised than a life sentence prisoner, and more ignorant than a drunken donkey.

    • NaibofTabr@infosec.pubEnglish
      491·
      7 hours ago

      I think you’ve misunderstood. It sounds like you’ve interpreted the headline to mean that General Hodges is threatening to invade Switzerland. Perhaps you only read the headline and not the actual article.

      "The best way to prevent a war is to prepare for it,” said the former commander of the US armed forces in Europe […] The US Department of Defence is currently funding 100,000 soldiers in Europe, said Hodges. For him, it is clear that President Donald Trump will withdraw troops. “The only question is when, and how many soldiers he will withdraw,” said the former general. “According to everything I hear from Washington, Europe is no longer a priority.” Trump sees China as the main opponent of the US.

      Hodges is stating the reality that Trump will withdraw US troops from Europe in the future, regardless of how bad an idea that is.

      From Trump’s point of view, the US would be paying billions for the defence of Europe, said Hodges. […] “Incidentally, the US benefits enormously economically from a stable Europe,” he said.

      Trump is the kind of moron who only understands short-term profit (especially profit for himself) and doesn’t give a shit about long-term international cooperation. Some very bad decisions are going to be made in the near future.

      Hodges understands the value of European relationships but also sees the inevitability of what’s coming and is trying to make the reality of it clear.