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NATO without the US can easily hold against Russia, provided nukes don't fly and the US does not stop selling munitions.

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So even without the US, they still need the US

A charitable reading suggests they meant that no US troops would be needed.

They don't, Finland and Poland alone would counter Russia.

Even if they don't have American nukes behind them?

Given what we've seen in Ukraine, I agree that Eastern European countries can likely take on Russia in conventional warfare. But that's not the only thing on the table.

They don't need American nukes, UK and France have nukes.

Somehow I don't think that either UK or France would be willing to get into a nuclear exchange with Russia over Poland or Finland, especially considering the relative sizes of the nuclear arsenals involved, and then also how much less concentrated the Russian population is.

NATO without the US still has two member countries with nukes. That doesn't guarantee "NATO wins" but it does assure "Russia loses" if that particular cat comes out of the bag.

Yes, and if the US leaves NATO, Sweden will start building nukes (again)

https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2012/0...

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