Majorities have an unfavorable opinion of the U.S. in nearly every country surveyed. Tell me again why we're paying 75% of the cost for NATO for countries that despise us?

submitted by Chipit from (pewresearch.org)

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[–]jet199 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

No disagreement from me. The UK should be investing far more on their military. Cutting down too much there is a real false economy. But this is what happens if you have a real push for small government, the bits with guns get cut first not the services. Instead money gets wasted on large salaries for politicians' mates.

[–]Chipit[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

OK that was a really weird take. "Small government" isn't the issue. The UK is one of the few NATO allies that actually pulls its weight. But nice of you to twist something and shoehorn in your pet hate issue.

[–]jet199 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Small government isn't a pet hate issue for me. You're crap as a mindreader.

America is just weird in that the party which supposedly supports small government then supports spending billions on the military and police which support the power of the government. Those two things don't go together many other places. Mostly where there's a push to cut government size or spending there a push to cut their power too. I guess American doesn't have that problem too much as they keep their military quite outward facing, soldiers aren't rolling around towns bothering people (though police are).

The UK barely pulls its weight. In truth we waste a lot of money on things we can't use but they create jobs, such as aircraft carriers we can't fit our planes on. The military have little government or public support in the UK so there's constant cost cutting for the stuff they actually need. Most military chiefs admit we wouldn't be able to defend ourselves if we faced a serious military attack. https://www.ft.com/content/36f47240-7c0e-11e6-ae24-f193b105145e

[–]Chipit[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

The aircraft carriers are meant to fit into US battle groups, but I wouldn't expect you to know that.

America is just weird in that the party which supposedly supports small government then supports spending billions on the military and police which support the power of the government.

The GOP establishment in DC is basically indistinguishable from the Democrats. D and R are just outward labels, they agree on just about everything. The small government people are outsiders who are getting constricted and crushed by ever-expanding regulations, which the GOP establishment couldn't care less about. But I wouldn't expect you to know that, either.

The UK barely pulls its weight.

But you do pull your weight. That's the important part. That means a lot. The rest of those worthless assholes in NATO can go fuck themselves. Americans are tired of wasting money on the ungrateful pricks of NATO, bases in Germany, etc. A complete waste of money that we can't afford, and which serves no purpose. If Russia wants to annex the Ukraine I don't care at all, not even a tiny bit.

https://www.ft.com/content/36f47240-7c0e-11e6-ae24-f193b105145e

Financial Times is a subscription-only site, but you pay for it so naturally it never occurs to you that everyone else doesn't. I would have expected you to know that, but I guess not. That speaks volumes about who you are and why you think the way you do. Freakin' FT.com, jesus.