this post was submitted on 16 Mar 2025
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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.

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[–] RetroGradeBE@lemmy.world 182 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

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.

[–] index@sh.itjust.works 24 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

US has a dependency on EU logistics

[–] Evil_Shrubbery@lemm.ee 13 points 2 weeks ago

Not after the US sanctions said logistics :D

[–] FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world 14 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I hope this is what comes of it.

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[–] cool@lemmings.world 7 points 2 weeks ago

it could finally be a push to a more cohesive EU-defence policy that is not dependant on US logistics and firepower.

I think the main reason why the EU doesn't care much about defense is that their people don't "value" war as much as other nations.

They live comfortably. They have their social services. Life is pretty good, for the most part.

Trying to convince them to go die in a war isn't going to be very popular. I genuinely believe the Western world is in for a rude awakening when an actual conflict breaks out.

It's not just logistics. These are people's lives.

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[–] 1984@lemmy.today 150 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Humans are so fucking stupid.

[–] HellsBelle@sh.itjust.works 95 points 2 weeks ago (8 children)

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

[–] Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world 78 points 2 weeks ago (33 children)

Plus the morons that keep voting them into power.

[–] HellsBelle@sh.itjust.works 17 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (3 children)

Plus the morons that keep voting them into power.

Nobody voted Schmusk into power.

[–] Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world 35 points 2 weeks ago

But everybody who wanted to could have known that Trump was going to appoint the most comically unqualified people.

[–] tootoughtoremember@lemmy.world 33 points 2 weeks ago

I mean... It's not like the signs weren't there.

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[–] Montagge@lemmy.zip 8 points 2 weeks ago

People let them stay in power

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Standing in the middle of a fully stocked supermarket saying, “well, I guess this is it. We have no choice but to kill and eat each other.”

[–] Brumefey@sh.itjust.works 61 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)
[–] Zess@lemmy.world 38 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Switzerland is always prepared for war. Prepared to stay the fuck out of it and profit from it.

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[–] NotLemming@lemm.ee 11 points 2 weeks ago

My exact reaction lol. News is like satire now.

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[–] jeena@piefed.jeena.net 61 points 2 weeks ago (8 children)

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.

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[–] Raylon@lemmy.world 54 points 2 weeks ago (10 children)

If anyone is interested in the state of things in Switzerland:

Our defense is in chaos right now. A scandal in our state-owned but public weapons manufacturer just broke a few weeks ago and shortly after the secretary of the departement of defense announced her resignation. We will see if the newly elected one will improve the situation.

The army is generally seen as somewhat of a joke, especially by people who served, which is more than half of all Swiss men. We like to call it a "Pfadiverein" (boy scouts association).

Even with all that, the right wing parties want to give a shitload more money to defense, and cut costs in social spending and foreign aid to compensate. Left of centre the need to improve defense is also accepted, but 1) before the army gets more money, they need to get their shit together and 2) more important than the army itself is integration with the european security Infrastructure (the left parties are also very pro-EU). The centre politicians usually mix blth stances and lean more one or the other way.

Also we still stand to buy fighter jets from the US, and only the left parties are calling to cancel the deal.

[–] Droggelbecher@lemmy.world 17 points 2 weeks ago

If it makes you feel any better, we have a joke in Austria that we might as well not have an army, because we border 1) NATO, 2) Switzerland, and if either of those become a threat, we might as well capitulate immediately.

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[–] Teknikal@eviltoast.org 44 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (2 children)

Anyone taking bets which Country gets threatened next I'm thinking Jamaica had to hand over 50percent of its rum.

[–] Agent641@lemmy.world 37 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

"Puerto Rico needs to end it's vicious trade war against the US or risk it's government being overthrown and made a US state."

[–] werefreeatlast@lemmy.world 8 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

They better start exporting their bountiful electricity! They got so much of it, enough for a good 3 or 4 days of AI questions about how awesome our beautiful leader Mr orange is.

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[–] Clbull@lemmy.world 28 points 1 week ago

If Putin had any desire to conquer Switzerland, all I'll say is good luck. They're:

  • Heavily fortified, with hundreds of bunkers dotting the countryside
  • Highly mountainous, which would heavily slow down a ground invasion.
  • One of the few states to still practice mandatory military service.
  • Pretty lax with gun ownership, to the point where citizens have a statutory duty to bear arms in the event of an invasion.
  • A substantial player in the banking sector with many oligarchs using their service. Any freeze they'd put on Russian assets would likely go above and beyond what NATO and the EU managed, just because of how synonymous their banks are with the wealthy. They would probably send the Russian economy into freefall long before they could even get anywhere near Zurich.
  • Surrounded from all sides by NATO and EU member states, and would likely have plenty of time to prepare their own forces in the unlikely event that Russia mounts a full-scale invasion and takes over the rest of Europe.
[–] Ilovethebomb@lemm.ee 27 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

“According to everything I hear from Washington, Europe is no longer a priority.” Trump sees China as the main opponent of the US.

This didn't start with Trump, it has been building for a long time. I haven't seen anyone spell it out so clearly before though.

[–] dmalteseknight@programming.dev 14 points 2 weeks ago

Frankly I think Trump sees western nations not led by dictators as threats.

[–] REDACTED@infosec.pub 12 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Soo. Uhh.. what exactly happens when US loses it's soft power and trust in Europe and Europe slowly cozies up to China?

[–] eric5949@lemmy.world 13 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Oh thats easy, Europe becomes the enemy, which you already see happening. You dont say you're getting another country 's territory one way or another if they're not your enemy.

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[–] Evil_Shrubbery@lemm.ee 25 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (4 children)

US troops often withdraw leaving way too much equipment behind.

I better not see civilians with "cool military" gear! That's worse 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.

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[–] Prime_Minister_Keyes@lemm.ee 23 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Tangentially related, he once said: "I had a German tell me one time, he said, the two pillars for us are NATO and the EU. NATO is for life, EU is for quality of life." I wonder how that'll play out in the near future.
EDIT: corrected link.

[–] ZMoney@lemmy.world 14 points 1 week ago

It's unfortunate that we've configured our world like this, with rival nation states and militaries vying for supremacy. In reality, the conflict is between humans and militarism. Militarism will kill us all, in one way or another.

[–] Suoko@feddit.it 13 points 2 weeks ago

Make him a present, some winter vacations in Switzerland and some summer ones in Italy. Cool those US guys down, down to the bottom of earth

[–] vga@sopuli.xyz 9 points 1 week ago

Switzerland been preparing for war since 1648.

[–] werefreeatlast@lemmy.world 7 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

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?

[–] boydster@sh.itjust.works 51 points 2 weeks ago (9 children)

Well, we sort of toppled an empire when we stole Hawaii, it literally was independent

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[–] kreskin@lemmy.world 42 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

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.

[–] boydster@sh.itjust.works 9 points 2 weeks ago

Adding to this (and also, thank you for spelling out what I only hinted at): That last queen wrote a book to tell the story of what happened.

Her brother, who was the last king of Hawaii, wrote a book of Hawaiian mythology, too, that is worth checking out if that's your bag.

[–] pineapplelover@lemm.ee 7 points 2 weeks ago

Ruined by capitalism. Time and time again

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