“The United States has hundreds of bases around the world. The vast majority are not manned. “
THOUSANDS.
There’s a Youtube channel dedicated to it. The “audit” by the Pentagon was so big, they didn’t “know” how big the numbers were and had to rely on a book author to find out how many bases the US has and how much was being spent.
The host said his clearance allowed him to go anywhere and ended up in an undisclosed military base in Belgiun and inside was AMERICA complete with malls, movie theaters, gyms etc. It was nuts. The US really is an empire.
That appears to be NATO Headquarters near Brussels. A place where no one works after five or on weekends. Amazing place.
“The US really is an empire.”
An empire subjugates the people of some locale, using them as labor and stealing the area’s assets like rubber, oil, diamonds, etc. An empire turns the subjegated lands into a protected market for its goods. The United States has conquered lots of places but hasn’t generally stayed unless they negotiate for and pay a fee for the land they use. The United States, until recently, has played the role of global policeman, thus protecting the shipping and cargoes of our allies. This was how the US defeated the Soviet Empire. The last move of that game was to bring China in on “our side.” Part of the deal was these “allies” got access to American markets. Because of the disparity in labor costs this meant lots of Americans lost jobs to their overseas competitors. But once the Soviets fell there was no longer any need to support this huge mission. The US has been withdrawing on a worldwide basis. This is allowing our former allies to fight among themselves. Japan and Korea have been suing each other and Korea has been seizing Japanese assets to pay for war crimes. (Despite a deal having been reached and paid off decades ago. It’s a political move by Korean politicians.) The point is that it is damaging to the American led order and...the US has done absolutely nothing. Had this happened during the cold war the US would have pressured the Korean government and the whole bruhaha would have gone away. S. Korea asked the Obama administration to handle the sinking of the Chonan by the North. Obama sent a stern diplomatic note. During the cold war the US would probably have doubled the sea patrols and flown in some anti missile systems.
The US has packed up and gone home. Our overseas footprint hasn’t been this small since before WWII. Some empire, eh?