From: Technotranscendence (neptune@mars.superlink.net)
Date: Sat Jan 25 2003 - 05:30:53 MST
On Thursday, January 23, 2003 3:55 AM Michael M. Butler mmb@spies.com
wrote:
> If you truly believe that pulling US troops out
> of Europe would have no negative consequences
> for Europe, the same might be said of you.
Why would such negative consequences be of concern to the US? (Also,
why should the US taxpayer foot the bill for this?) What would those
negative consequences be? Perhaps also it would be nice for the
Europeans to fend for themselves.
> Or you could be right. But--if you truly believe
> there's always only one reason for anything
> in politics--I can't take your thinking as
> anything but shallow.
I don't think one has to divine motives or just one motive to US troops
being in Europe. I think mostly they're there now, when the original
reason for them being there (the Soviet threat) is long gone just
because of institutional inertia. Granted, political and financial*
interests also impinge here, but imagine if there were no US troops or
bases in Europe. Those same interests would have an uphill battle
convincing all of us -- Americans and Europeans alike -- that they now
need to be there, especially in large numbers.
My point: institutional arrangements often channel special interests.
There might be good and bad reasons for doing something, but one has to
look at the context of these things.
Cheers!
Dan
http://uweb.superlink.net/neptune/
* Some of the biggest proponents of NATO expansion are from the Halls of
that "Axis of Corporate Evil" -- to use Justin Raimondo's term --
Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Raytheon. For example, the US Committee to
Expand NATO was cofounded by Bruce P. Jackson and Randy Scheunemann.
Following the money: Jackson is a VP at Lockheed Martin and Scheeunemann
is a registered agent for the same. The rub here is that new NATO
members have to upgrade their militaries, which means business for --
you guessed it! -- defense contractors. (Perhaps to call this "evil" is
a bit much. After all, one would expect merchants of death, by nature,
to want to sell weapons and other military systems. So, in a mixed
economy, they would lobby for whatever it takes to sell their wares.)
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