Good to spread the word about the disinformation Trump is spreading about NATO-members not supporting the US.

[ndoloramogi@mastodon.social]

@ErikJonker @geopolitics

[pa27@mastodon.social]

@ErikJonker @geopolitics Trump is vile. He knows nothing, cares for nothing but himself. We all need to stop working with Trumpistan. Make America Go Away!

[normjess@tech.lgbt]

@ErikJonker
fortunately the UK learned from this and... just kidding

moreover, its been buying up US treasuries as the Chinese abandon them certain the US is about to implode

if ever there was anyone to sell a bridge you don't own, the UK is your guy

after WW2 and the US replaced the UK as the global hegemon we positioned ourselves as the smart one whispering into their ear

instead we are the suck up to the school bully, except now he's an adult and just shot someone, and we're still locked in out of pure instinct

[zeri@chaos.social]

@ErikJonker @geopolitics@a.gup.pe insufferable treacherous non-entities, backstabbing cowards incapable of rational thought. And it's not just Trump, the US will need new prisons when this is over, god let it be soon.

[byrnensorg@mastodon.ie]

@ErikJonker @geopolitics@a.gup.pe Why do people still place stock in anything that comes out of his wordhole. So much energy goes into countering the lies and presenting the truth that the truth ends up looking like just an alternative narrative.

[tcatinreality@mastodon.social]

@ErikJonker @geopolitics

Maybe a side by side comparison with Trump Family military service (not eve deaths, just service)

[bodhipaksa@mastodon.scot]

@ErikJonker

Feel free to add this to the alt text.

United Kingdom 636
Canada 160+
France 90
Italy 86
Poland 74
Germany 62
Denmark 50
Spain 46
Netherlands 27
Czech Republic 15
Estonia 11
Norway 10

Source: NATO mission casualty records, Afghanistan & post-9/11 operations

[uc@mastodon.scot]

@david_chisnall @ErikJonker @geopolitics

In the Gulf War I, British tanks were marked on top for the first time, so that the American fighter pilots might recognise them as friendly.

IIRC one friendly fire incident took out seven Brits.

[jt_rebelo@ciberlandia.pt]

@CosminOprescu and that's "just" the dead, not the injured. Portugal didn't have a big military presence (much more policing and training programmes through GNR, our paramilitary police, working mostly side by side with the Italian Carabinieri, and some got seriously hurt on ambushes and attacks). Still, 2 dead in Afghanistan, 1 in Iraq.
Robert Gates, in 2011, had a word or two to say about the (then) 850 non-US NATO troops that "made the ultimate sacrifice in Afghanistan". https://web.archive.org/web/20110615172649/http://www.securitydefenceagenda.org/Contentnavigation/Activities/Activitiesoverview/tabid/1292/EventType/EventView/EventId/1070/EventDateID/1087/PageID/5141/Reflectionsonthestatusandfutureofthetransatlanticalliance.aspx
@ErikJonker @geopolitics

[jt_rebelo@ciberlandia.pt]

@UlrikNyman there's some discussion around the number (some sources say 159, some 160, so there's always the need to put an "asterisk" because of it). The worst part is that at least 5 Canadian soldiers died because of US "friendly-fire" in different moments, 4 of them were the first casualties in the war, and more than 30 were wounded.
@ErikJonker @geopolitics

[photo55@mastodon.social]

@ErikJonker @geopolitics
With though.
Not for.

[grootinside@troet.cafe]

@ErikJonker
🤨 Ok. Although as a principle, there is nothing such as a "quid pro quo" in an alliance. Such an "argument" by itself is an insult.

[mral@mastodon.sdf.org]

@ErikJonker @geopolitics
It is nice to see a post with facts, figures and the source.

We need more of this kind of reporting instead of just a statement that inflames one side of the other.
Good job.

[madengineering@mastodon.cloud]

@ErikJonker @geopolitics the alliance with Europe was incredibly valuable up until it got monkey wrenched out of existence because my fellow citizens decided to throw a nationalist tantrum.

[on4bam@mastodon.online]

@mral @ErikJonker @geopolitics Unfortunately, facts don't matter for the supreme baboon.

[mral@mastodon.sdf.org]

@ON4BAM @ErikJonker @geopolitics
agreed but everyone else needs facts and we can not live by their standards.

We must not let them drag us down to their standards.

"them" and "their" is reference to the GOP, conservatives and other flat earthers. #Pumpkinhead only has power because these folks give it to him. They are the real problem. Pumpkin head can not fix anything more complicated than a sandwich.

[irenemoews@vmst.io]

@ErikJonker And recall that the USA have (had) lots of military bases in Europe, not only for security of these countries but above all for the USA.

[erikjonker@mastodon.social]

@IreneMoews ...still has, losing Ramstein for example would really make operations in the middle east more difficult

[ianthetechie@fosstodon.org]

@ErikJonker @geopolitics @CyReVolt even more when you consider adjusting per capita. Estonia is only 1.3 million people. And their defense spending as a ratio of GDP is higher than the requirement by a wider margin than most NATO states.

[dcdeejay@mastodon.online]

@implementcontrols Can confirm, including my friend Mark.

"On September 4, 2006, Graham was killed in a friendly fire incident when two USAF A-10 Thunderbolts fired on his platoon, having mistaken them for Taliban insurgents. He was awarded the Sacrifice Medal and is buried at the National Military Cemetery in Ottawa."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Anthony_Graham

@ErikJonker