The French are hilarious

[Whippy McGee]

I am 100% for reducing Defense spending. The first step is foreign bases, should start closing. Next would be to get rid of redundant programs/weapon systems. Then get rid of the items which the Defense Department requested not happen, but politicians benefit in their district, so they get built anyways at great expense.

Europe needs to defend itself. We can still be allies, but we should not be such a huge force.

 

[snakedafunky]

No doubt they are almost as incompetent as the Germans when it comes to war, but they are kings of liveability. They should never have sided with the Germans of they wanted to win a world war.

Germany is very competent when it comes to war. Probably the most competitive nation in recent history.
Well, France under Napoleon could probably make a good case for that as well.

Austria also didn't side with Germany. Germany sided Austria. And in WW2 they were annexed.

 

[Islam Imamate]

I mean, I get Trump is finding a way to throw a punch but in reality, wouldn't it be good if Europe funded a decent size army? That essentially would make NATO less important or not needed at all.

I think that would be bad for the US. Trump is always crying about how we subsidize NATO, to a certain extent rightly so because I fucking hate hearing and reading Europeans shit on us for our defense budget, but isn't precisely the fact that we subsidize NATO and have the strongest army within it that gives us disproportionate influence? If Europe starts defending themselves more so we may save money but lose influence.

 

[Kframe]

Yeah but that was just something that was agreed to after.
That has nothing to do with claiming that we are not fulfilling our NATO commitments.
We have paid all our share of the budget and never broke any of those articles (as far as I know).

That being said we probably won't be achieving that 2024 target. But 2030 should be reasonable.
We will spend around 0.8% more in 2019 which should put it somewhere around the 1.3% mark.
I also agree that the target of 2% should be kept. But there is no point in wasting money just to increase the spending by 2024. It's not just a matter of spending money but spending it smartly.

Your worthless ilk are content to let drag your goddamn heals. I am disgusted I have german blood...….

 

[Pessimystic]

Yeah, they should catchh up on their NATO dues, first.
Deadbeat bastards.

 

[Fox by the Sea]

macron can't deliver shit, his approval rating at home is abysmal, so he throws these hail marys on the eu political scene so that he looks bigger than he really is.

 

[hillelslovak87]

Yeah, they should catchh up on their NATO dues, first.
Deadbeat bastards.

Do you view NATO as useful for the US?

How about the UN?

 

[hillelslovak87]

I am 100% for reducing Defense spending. The first step is foreign bases, should start closing. Next would be to get rid of redundant programs/weapon systems. Then get rid of the items which the Defense Department requested not happen, but politicians benefit in their district, so they get built anyways at great expense.

Europe needs to defend itself. We can still be allies, but we should not be such a huge force.

Cutting all private defense contracts would loosen up the budget to a monumental degree. So much waste, overbudgeting, etc from those mercenary groups like BlackWater, or whatever absurd name they have now, like AmericanDefenseStrategy, or some shit.

 

[Supereem]

Germany is very competent when it comes to war. Probably the most competitive nation in recent history.
Well, France under Napoleon could probably make a good case for that as well.

Austria also didn't side with Germany. Germany sided Austria. And in WW2 they were annexed.

Well Germany has not won a war in 150 years so I wouldn’t rank it very highly. Knowing who to side with and when to invade Russia are critical aspects of warfare the Germans never seemed to grasp. By the looks of things, they will make the same mistakes again.

 

[snakedafunky]

Well Germany has not won a war in 150 years so I wouldn’t rank it very highly. Knowing who to side with and when to invade Russia are critical aspects of warfare the Germans never seemed to grasp. By the looks of things, they will make the same mistakes again.

Well, we did beat Russia in WW1.
Also, there was no option for Germany to side with anyone else because WW1 was a response to the rise of a unified Germany.
Germany couldn't have just said we side with France or Britan. The acceleration of tension from France and the UK was a direct response to falling behind the Kaiserreich at the time. Now Germany could have probably had a less aggressive strategy that delayed WW1. But the war itself was unavoidable to a certain extent because France and the UK wouldn't just peacefully fall in line behind Germany. Like they are doing now.

 

[Supereem]

Well, we did beat Russia in WW1.
Also, there was no option for Germany to side with anyone else because WW1 was a response to the rise of a unified Germany.
Germany couldn't have just said we side with France or Britan. The acceleration of tension from France and the UK was a direct response to falling behind the Kaiserreich at the time. Now Germany could have probably had a less aggressive strategy that delayed WW1. But the war itself was unavoidable to a certain extent because France and the UK wouldn't just peacefully fall in line behind Germany. Like they are doing now.

Well the German plan lacked emotional intelligence. In both world wars the Germans were shocked England got involved when Germany invaded Belgium and Poland. For most people this was foreseeable (the French bet their whole country on it in WW1) but the Germans couldn’t read it. If they didn’t rely on the Schliefen plan and made an emotionally intelligent strategy they could have won the war. As soon as England entered it was game over, no country back then could have taken the British Empire in a total war.

Second World War they completely misread how strong the Russians are in another great example of emotional retardation. It’s why I think Germans should not be allowed officer positions in the EU army, they will just give away the victory again.

 

[ocfightfan]

They are too busy paying their wives third world boyfriends.

 

[manlyseaeagle]

Yeah, they fought very competent in WW1 or during the Prussia-Astro war.
The only recent victories they have is when they fought under the German state or against the even more incompetent Italiens.

As for the economy, it is pretty good. But the German economy is still better. Austria's economy is also very depended on the German one.
Probably more so than any other European country.
They shouldn't be their own country anyway. But rather another German state like Bavaria.

agree with Austria should be a German state and Switzerland should just split into Italy, France and Germany.

 

[KBE6EKCTAH_CCP]

I just find the need for a Euro Army is more about stomping out defiant member states and keep them in line, than it would be protecting EU from Russia or China.

Think of what Poland and Hungry are doing with the whole migrant fiasco and how Macron keeps threatening them.

Now imagine the EU chancellor, Merkel, Macron with the blessing of other globalist minded states using that army on eastern block nations instead of actual threats like Russia.

Uh....totally farfetched and absurd idea.

 

[KBE6EKCTAH_CCP]

I'm French and I can tell you, when Macron says this, it is rather because of the anti-TRUMP climate here in Europe (because of media propaganda), rather than anti-US.

The real reason why they want more defence is against Russia actually. Our government spends most of its military budget in US/Israel conflict, in order to benefit our giant companies like "Total" and others.

Instead of siding with Russia, our elites side with the US consensus (Left + GOP, except Trump) against Russia, and make decisions and take sanctions to please the US, even when its painful to some of our major companies (Peugeot for instance).

This Euro army is bla bla bullshit.
Many people in Yurrp would love more Yurrp but it's just small talk.

What Macron is lobbying hard against now is team populist. Little bitch is going to Central Yurrp to tell them that they should take in more migrants and that the EU is great.

 

[tkotom]

The last time anyone worth anything tried to invade "Europe" was 400 years ago when the Turks failed to conquer Vienna.

Since then, Europe has been invading itself and getting Americans, Australians, etc. to die for them.

 

[NoDak]

The last time anyone worth anything tried to invade "Europe" was 400 years ago when the Turks failed to conquer Vienna.

Since then, Europe has been invading itself and getting Americans, Australians, etc. to die for them.

America has probably protected Europe from itself more than anything. It's pretty hard to argue the US putting it in check and under the collective security blanket (while granting full access to its markets) hasn't been one of the greatest things to ever happen to the continent given the cannibalistic history up through 1945. Dunno why dudes think it's so hilarious, but such is the smugness.

 

[squeezewax]

I see Macron in his speech just had a go at Trump for saying what he did about being a nationalist. I don't think that speech on this particular day was the right time to mention that.
He said something about patriotism is different to nationalism and that the latter wasn't a great thing. Now, maybe he is correct about the actual meanings of those words, but he shouldn't of said it on Armistice Day.

 

[tkotom]

Dunno why dudes think it's so hilarious, but such is the smugness.

Because they're pieces of shit.

American blood saved Europe, especially the French so many times.

 

[snakedafunky]

America has probably protected Europe from itself more than anything. It's pretty hard to argue the US putting it in check and under the collective security blanket (while granting full access to its markets) hasn't been one of the greatest things to ever happen to the continent given the cannibalistic history up through 1945. Dunno why dudes think it's so hilarious, but such is the smugness.

Well, you could make an argument that had the US not supported the allies in WW1 and eventually entered the war on their behalf.
The Kaisereich would have won and that would have been the end of hostility in Western Europe because of the power of a Unified Kaiserreich with Austria/Hungary and the likely customs Union.
There would have also been no Communism. I am not saying it would have gone down like that 100% but that would have been a real possibility.

It's not so much that the US protected Europe from itself. But it rather conspired against Germany.
Who should have been the natural leader of Europe due to its size, population, geographic location, and military/economic superiority.
That is what we are seeing right now. After reunification, it has become clear that Germany is the natural leader of Europe.
You could have had that a 100 years ago.

Also, it's not like Germany didn't do strategy mistakes back then. Or that they were a shining beacon of freedom or anything. I just don't think the US has protected anyone.
They have made Europe less save.