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Ally bases on US soil

Yes, but it in no way pays the full amount .... Take GITMO... or the German bases. On most of those the US pays relatively little rent and utilities. Google it, plenty of stuff about it.

Maybe Germany shouldn't had declared war on the US... and lost? As for GITMO, research the Spanish-American War. We didn't have to pay them anything. We could have annexed them, like Germany and Spain did other lands before they screwed with the US, and like the US did in Guam, Texas, California, and a few other locations - we paid for and bought Alaska from Russia, the US Virgin Islands from ... wait for it... DENMARK, in 1916, and although we paid $20 million ($568,880,000 today) to Spain for the Philippines, we gave the Philippines back to the people of the Philippines in 1946 via the Treaty of Manila.

Unlike our European cousins, including your lovely Denmark, some of which included the Danish West Indies as discussed above that were part of the Danish Colonial Empire, the US doesn't have a history of colonialism or seizing other lands as if they belonged to us in first place, or Empire building and holding (Aruba, Curaçao, and Saint Maarten are still under the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and their official language is Dutch). There's an old parable regarding rocks being thrown by folks that live in glass houses that comes to mind.
 
Maybe Germany shouldn't had declared war on the US... and lost? As for GITMO, research the Spanish-American War. We didn't have to pay them anything. We could have annexed them, like Germany and Spain did other lands before they screwed with the US, and like the US did in Guam, Texas, California, and a few other locations - we paid for and bought Alaska from Russia, the US Virgin Islands from ... wait for it... DENMARK, in 1916, and although we paid $20 million ($568,880,000 today) to Spain for the Philippines, we gave the Philippines back to the people of the Philippines in 1946 via the Treaty of Manila.

Unlike our European cousins, including your lovely Denmark, some of which included the Danish West Indies as discussed above that were part of the Danish Colonial Empire, the US doesn't have a history of colonialism or seizing other lands as if they belonged to us in first place, or Empire building and holding (Aruba, Curaçao, and Saint Maarten are still under the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and their official language is Dutch). There's an old parable regarding rocks being thrown by folks that live in glass houses that comes to mind.

Wow! That's an awesome piece of US history, that I didn't know. I think it's great that we can be regarded as patrons of other cultures in some sense, but that money is still just a statistic. I think business in the US who exploit Philippine people or immigrants for cheap labor are just as guilty of financial oppression as colonials are guilty of physical oppression. Don't forget that we massacred lots of Native Indian tribes in order to put forts on land they thought no one could own. Up here in VT we call them the Six Nations, and to some extent Abenaki.
 
You can not understand why I don't understand something, but your understanding of overseas operations may very well be confirmation bias of your point that this would be beneficial stateside.

Maybe you train for everything, or the military trains service members for everything, but I do not train for any of those things. If you're just pimping out the military, I won't try to prove you wrong. It would be better to engage in a meaningful debate than to say "you must be ignorant of" [stuff that the military does].

Maybe your lack of understanding of my lack of understanding is merely a deficiency on your part to address how I addressed your original claim that Israel should have bases here in the US. Saying "that's just how it's done" ain't gonna work for anyone but you and your buddies.

That's completely incorrect. It's effective because it works on every continent and country.
 
General: Cheaper to keep troops in South Korea than U.S. - CNNPolitics.com

and many others. But the far right wing RAND Corporation did a study in 2012... quite revealing. It varies from country to country of course... but

http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR200/RR201/RAND_RR201.pdf

But claiming that the US takes all the cost is... bull****. Places like Japan and South Korea take a huge majority of the cost of having US bases there. Germany use too, but with the end of the cold war, the Germans got bigger balls and demanded the US paid more for their bases.

Ok I see. But what you're failing to see is that it's the profit margin from having the US base there, making them fine with picking up the tab. All the more reason we should open up our space to allies. Because it all boils down to money.
 
There we go. We went from "need", to "rather". You see, I'd rather have friendly forces with join training exercises readily available with allied divisions. I'd also love all the money merely having them there would generate. Not to mention the bettered relationships we'd have with those allies.

Well to be honest we were never at "need".

The military doesnt produce anything. What they generate is just a function of the added population.

We already practically provide for their entire security. If we didnt spend money on that, because they did it themselves, I cant see how that wouldnt be a better net gain.


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Would you support an ally, say Britian or Japan, having a base for one for their armed services here in the US? Why or why not? With that do you currently support US bases in other countries? If you support our bases there but not their bases here, what is your reasoning?

*yawn*

We have had foreign tropps based in the United States for decades now. And pretty much every member of the military is aware of this. So I see no reason to even bring this up.

Go to Fort Bliss, Texas sometime. Where there is a big area of the base set aside for the German Air Force. Their own club, schools, church, and housing areas (not to mention their own compound with German forces guarding it), inside a US Army base.

And a great many of our bases overseas are actually foreign bases. The main Air Force presence in England after all is on "RAF Mildenhall", not "USAFB Mildenhall". Short of bases founded during the time of occupation (Germany, Japan) I really can not think of any bases that are "US Bases" in foreign countries.

I really see this as a political non-issue, since it ignores the reality that has existed for decades.
 
No point whatsoever.

US has all the facilities needed to host friendly troops and very few nations have interests which would be best served from a US soil base.
 
Absolutely Not. Hell to the no.
 
Well, the US is not a recognized protectorate of any other country, so I fail to see why we should make military concessions to another nation state. It's unnecessary and we have not given an official reason for how or why a foreign military power could install a base here. We can host foreign troops without ally bases here in the US. We do not need a NATO base here, although one might consider NATO an "ally" or a collection of allies.
 
Why do foreign countries/allies tolerate US bases? Why do THEY need them, when you don't?

Security...

Most were in strategic choke-points or symbolic positions.

A base in Seoul made little sense as any invasion would leave it vulnerable. Pusan and Daegu were better placed. What stations in Seoul provide are "trip wires". You take Seoul and you have to kill Americans to do it. Thereby providing Casus Belli for the US to go in and stomp butt. Ditto the Berlin Brigade... Purely symbolic sacrificial units.
 
Well, the US is not a recognized protectorate of any other country

Wow, did you even read your own reference?

Compact of Free Association
The Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, and Palau have a similar status (associated state) since their independence.

Yea, I think those count as "recognized protectorates". And even your own reference states that quite clearly. Each of those is an independent nation, that relies upon the US for it's defense needs. And in return, the US military also accepts citizens of those nations into thei armed forces. I even deployed with a lady from Micronesia a few years ago. She joined the US Army, served for 6 years then at the end of her enlistment returned home.

Tell you what. Next time you give a reference, make sure it actually says what you claim it says. I knew what you posted was nonsense as soon as I read it even before I looked it up, because as I said I have served with such a person myself not that long ago. And Micronesia is indeed an independent nation, for 30 years this coming November.
 
Wow, did you even read your own reference?



Yea, I think those count as "recognized protectorates". And even your own reference states that quite clearly. Each of those is an independent nation, that relies upon the US for it's defense needs. And in return, the US military also accepts citizens of those nations into thei armed forces. I even deployed with a lady from Micronesia a few years ago. She joined the US Army, served for 6 years then at the end of her enlistment returned home.

Tell you what. Next time you give a reference, make sure it actually says what you claim it says. I knew what you posted was nonsense as soon as I read it even before I looked it up, because as I said I have served with such a person myself not that long ago. And Micronesia is indeed an independent nation, for 30 years this coming November.

Are any of the continental United States, or Alaska or Hawaii protectorates of a foreign nation?

A protectorate, in its inception adopted by modern international law, is a dependent territory that has been granted local autonomy and some independence while still retaining the suzerainty of a greater sovereign state.
 
what's their need for a base here? we had to nuke japan into submission, that's why we have bases there. we had to save britain from hitler, and subsequently protect them from the ussr for 50 years, that's why we have bases there. when japan or britain defeats us in a war, or saves us from conquest, they can put a base here.
 
what's their need for a base here? we had to nuke japan into submission, that's why we have bases there. we had to save britain from hitler, and subsequently protect them from the ussr for 50 years, that's why we have bases there. when japan or britain defeats us in a war, or saves us from conquest, they can put a base here.

Ummm. No, that is not why the bases remain there. The occupation ended in Germany in 1955 (Except Berlin). Japan in 1952 (Except Okinawa)
 
Would you support an ally, say Britian or Japan, having a base for one for their armed services here in the US? Why or why not? With that do you currently support US bases in other countries? If you support our bases there but not their bases here, what is your reasoning?

I'd have no problem with it. Though I'm not sure how it would be beneficial.
 
Would you support an ally, say Britian or Japan, having a base for one for their armed services here in the US? Why or why not? With that do you currently support US bases in other countries? If you support our bases there but not their bases here, what is your reasoning?

Well, the good people of Alamogordo don't seem to thrilled that the Germans are leaving:

The Luftwaffe has had a presence at Holloman since 1992, but the cancellation of the contract to train German pilots in Tornado aircraft means the mission will end by 2019.

The German defense ministry said the decision affects approximately 450 military staff and their families as well as the 14 Tornado weapon systems stationed at Holloman.

The decision had been expected, though political and business leaders in New Mexico had been lobbying the Germans to continue the mission.

Col. Heinz-Josef Ferkinghoff, commander of German forces in the United States, said it is a sad development. He said the German Air Force Flying Training Center has appreciated the American hospitality they have received over the years.

German Air Force leaving Holloman by 2019

I tend to side with the New Mexicans; I'm sorry to see the Germans leave. On the other hand, we need to pull our bases out of Japan. The Japanese have made it clear that they want the defense umbrella our troops provide, but as they've closed bases on Japan proper and moved troops to Okinawa it's also a case of NIMBY, especially on Okinawa where tensions have boiled over in the wake of the rape and murder of a 20-year-old woman, allegedly at the hands of a U.S. civilian worker:

With U.S. servicemembers, family members and others with SOFA status strongly encouraged to avoid the protest area, Gov. Takeshi Onaga called for a total withdrawal of Marines.

“I will never forgive the inhumane and brutal act that trampled women’s human rights. I am indignant,” said Naga, who won election on an anti-base platform.

Speaker after speaker made emotionally charged addresses at Onoyama Stadium in Naha that had a couple of Japanese reporters crying.

“We have endured cruel treatment for 70 years, even after the reversion of the island,” a student said in English after speaking to the crowd in Japanese. “We are your neighbors. We are your friends. But we want the bases to be gone. This is not how we want our country to be.”

Anti-U.S. military protests attract thousands in Naha, Tokyo - Pacific - Stripes

Japan is still the world's third largest economy, thanks in no small measure to it being able to be stingy on defense spending. Let it defend itself. We can't afford it anymore.
 
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