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Comment by twombly | Hacker News Reader

Part of the reason people would even want to send a boat full of troops is because of the way our military interacts with the rest of the world. It's an unfortunate situation to be in but that doesn't mean it needs to continue forever. If we would just scale back the size of our military presence it would definitely be safer for everyone.

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> Part of the reason people would even want to send a boat full of troops...

Yes but not the entire or only reason, so even if we had the best possible foreign policy, we would still need a national defense.

While I agree with you that much of our foreign policy causes us problems, I see that as orthogonal to the need for such defense even if we were to change said policy(ies.)

Safer for who? Probably not for Europe, certainly Eastern Europe who see what Putin is doing in Ukraine. Probably not for Japan and South Korea, both of whom rely on US military backing against undemocratic opponents who have designs on their territory.

US military strength underpins the current Western democratic system, which keeps the US wealthy through trade and commerce.

Given what Putin is doing in Ukraine, and given how the US and Europe appeared to be totally unprepared, it doesn't seem like the NSA is really benefiting Europe enough for it to be a viable for the necessity of the NSA.

It would be safer for europe if the US wouldn't act like an idiot in the arabic world. Or at least if they would learn something from their zillions of mistakes. Islamic terrorism kills people everywhere, but mostly not in the US.

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