You have to give them some credit for being smarter than us. After WWII we paid to rebuild their cities. For the last 70 years and counting, we have paid to defend them. They charge us for military bases that are used to defend them. Meanwhile they pay almost nothing for national defense and rely on the US to address any security issue. Meanwhile our cities are in ruin. We are overrun with homeless people. The education and health care systems are disasters but "Europe" has a utopia in that respect.
The trigger for the US to enter WW2 was because of the direct attack by Japan.
It wasn’t primarily to defend Europe.
The population of the US was 3x the population of Britain in 1939.
Pro-rata the economic cost to GB was 4.5x the cost to the US,
Pro-rata we suffered 3x as many losses.
We fought for 2 years before the US joined ww2 and four years before you joined ww1
The US contribution was both welcome and decisive, but the problem was global not European.
The more recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were a response to 9-11
Britain in particular was a totally loyal ally after 9-11 and participated in these wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in support of the US - probably against better judgement, and by playing along with the myth of WMD. Is the world safer now? I’m not too sure.
The situation in Ukraine is a consequence of the disintegration of the Soviet Union.
Britain, Russia, the USA and Ukraine signed the Budapest agreement to respect Ukraine’s sovereignty and its borders in return for the nuclear disarmament of Ukraine.
Russia had no intention to honour that agreement.
It could be argued that NATOs moves to expand into Eastern Europe triggered the current crisis.
Therefore it’s a NATO problem not a European problem.
Putin will probably prevail if the US continues to withdraw support.
Unfortunately humans seem unable to inhabit the world without fighting.
Britain, Canada and Europe are still the closest allies to the US.
The US needed Britain’s political and military support in recent years.
The world seems to be becoming more unsafe as technology develops.
This anti-European argument seems somewhat misplaced to me, and ignores the fact that Britain paid a much heavier price in WW2.
I’m not an expert on the economic problems in the US but the huge national debt is surely significant.
The national debt in the UK is bad, but the situation is even worse in the US.
No-one can afford these wars.
