US empire is fighting for its life. A war that ends w/ Iran becoming the regional hegemon would be much worse than Vietnam.  
  
Yet, media is surprised that Trump wants to pull troops out of Europe? MSM is completely oblivious of the seriousness of current situation. You can't TACO into a situation where Iran controls Middle Eastern oil & global energy mkt.  
  
Are we living in some kind of fantasy land where ppl don't understand what's going on here? If your empire is facing existential crisis, why would you still keep troops & air defense in places that are in the peripheral of your interests? This is not the Cold War anymore.  
  
A few yrs ago, ppl explained to me why US must fight China in Taiwan scenario. It was essentially just to keep the empire. Well, your empire scenario came true w/o even facing China.  
  
If the Middle Easterners w/ their oil money are no longer investing in US tech/AI or giving billions to lobbyists in the beltway, what will DC or SV look like?  
  
I remember visiting DC for the first time in 2000 & being surprised at just how dangerous it felt. And then in past 25 yrs, it completely gentrified as money just rolled into the imperial capital. Do ppl in the media or public think that the politicians want DC to look like Baltimore?  
  
Since I do not think the Republicans or the Democrats are ready to lose the privilege of global hegemony, then the current impasse is clearly not acceptable.  
  
So, I think there are basically 2 possible approaches here if you don't want to lose control of global energy mkt to Russia & Iran:  
1) Move as much troops & air defense into the region as possible. No other Eastern hemisphere theater matter if you suffer this level of defeat.  
2) Negotiate a deal w/ China & Russia that completely screws over Iran. It would require cutting off all intelligence sharing w/ Ukraine + more. Not sure what it would need to offer to China.  
  
It seems to me that 2) would be impossible to accept for the political elite & 1) would be impossible to achieve due to continued requirement from Europe & East Asia.  
  
Reality is that keeping 2 to 3 carrier groups in Persian Gulf is extremely taxing. This will really reduce force readiness for yrs to come. If you can accept that US is no longer a threat to China in East Asia & European bases are a Cold War relic, then 1) seems to be more palatable for those in charge.  
  
But you cannot arrive @ 1) or 2) unless you acknowledge the precariousness of the current situation.

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In response to:

EPORTER: You talked about possibly pulling some troops out of Germany. Would you consider the same thing for Spain and Italy?

@POTUS: "Yeah, probably... Why shouldn't I? Italy has not been of any help to us, and Spain has been horrible."

US empire is fighting for its life. A war that ends w/ Iran becoming the regional hegemon would be much worse than Vietnam. Yet, media is surprised that Trump wants to pull troops out of Europe? MSM is completely oblivious of the seriousness of current situation. You can't TACO into a situation when