This is why America fails at downsizing our 800 military bases around the world
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[i][b]Picture above [/b]-The Republic of Niger. Where the USA is desperate to keep its drone airbase. [/i] Level set – I'm not against robust US defenses. However, I AM opposed to throwing billions of dollars away on innumerable far-flung bases located in all the world's $hitholes. While we watch Ukranian civilians get bombed to smithereens. Who's driving the foreign policy bus here?
Case in point – the Pentagon is desperate to keep its base in Niger. (Please note that Niger and Nigeria are entirely different nations. The Republic of Niger “is a snail on the tail of a frog on a log in a hole at the bottom of the sea" . . .) The US base in Niger is one which both the people and government of that nation don't want. See link below. In case the map at top doesn't provide enough context, here's a brief recap of the Republic of Niger.
- Landlocked – no ports of any kind
- Little strategic value for spying/intelligence. Niger's neighbors are equally irrelevant (Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Libya, and Nigeria).
- Niger is mostly desert. In the hot season, temps range from 108-113 degrees Fahrenheit. In the “cold” season daytime temps drop to 90, as long as you stay out of the midday sun.
- 90% of the population are either rural villagers or nomadic herdsmen. The total population is 25 million.
- Niger's gross domestic product is $17 billion dollars. Which is less 1/3rd that of Wyoming, the US state with the smallest GDP. However, Nigeria is a major exporter of . . . URANIUM!
Uranium? I think we may have just found the secret reason the USA wants to hang around. But most of Niger's uranium goes to France, the UK, Canada, and Japan. If they consider Niger strategically important, let THEM dicker with the regime for military bases.
The USA has spent hundreds of millions of dollars arming and training Niger's military over the past decade. And then, about 8 months ago, the palace guards seized power. Haven't we seen this movie before? If this sounds suspiciously like how the USA got roped into Arabian politics and corruption decades ago, go to the head of the class.
I'm not going to do a deep dive on which of the US 800 military bases are irrelevant. But our drone air base in Niger seems to have limited value. It's been under construction since the Obama administration, and still isn't finished 8 years later. Let's pack up our radio-controlled model planes and take them home. And vow to make better decisions in the future.
I'm just sayin' . . .
The US attempts a new military deal with Niger in a last ditch effort to stay (msn.com)
Special thanks - kudos to House Democrats for helping pass the bipartisan military aid package for Ukraine this week. Republicans, you should be ashamed.
As you know, I am in favor of not only aid to Ukraine but for a bigger defense budget given the current world climate.
But there are no doubt many military bases around the world that we do not need and in many cases put the men and women in uniform on those bases at risk.
At home? Naturally. NATO bases in Europe? Sure. In South Korea and Japan? Of course.
But I'd question some of the choices in Africa and the Middle East as well.
Well, Russia joined the Partners for Peace program on June 22, 1994 when Boris Yeltsin was president of Russia. Yeltsin received 57% of the vote in 1991 (dictators hardly settle for a percentage that low).
NATO suspended Russia from the program in 2014 after Russia's invasion of Ukraine (by which time Vladimir Putin was firmly in control as a de-facto dictator.
Nations can go change over time, you know. It was worth trying.
@PicturesOfABetterTomorrow if you have an example where a US military alliance with a corrupt regime was "a good foreign policy idea", please post it. In the meantime, i will direct your attention to
- Iraq - Afghanistan - South Vietnam - Pakistan - Turkey - Saudi Arabia
@SusanInFlorida Corrupt regimes are easy to manipulate. So the US generally prefers such things. There is a reason why 70% of all dictatorships are US backed.
@wildbill83 if we had wanted to save lives, we would have asked NATO to declare a "no fly zone" over Ukraine on day one, to protect the civilian population.
