[Stripes] STUTTGART, Germany ‐ A vast majority of Europeans would want to remain neutral in the event of a conflict between the U.S. and Russia, but two NATO members lean more toward supporting Moscow than their fellow alliance member, a new opinion poll shows.
We should get out of NATO and Europe in any event. They're no help in fighting Russians which I don't want to do anyway. And I sure don't want to fight for France again much less Latvia et al.
A survey conducted by the European Council on Foreign Relations asked Europeans in 14 EU member states for their views on issues ranging from trade and climate change to military investment. When people were asked who their country should side with in the event of conflict between the U.S. and Russia, majorities in all but one country said it would be best to not pick sides.
I love when Europeans deride our military budget and how they would use that budget for social causes. It must be nice to not spend a dime on defense, knowing that the most powerful military in the history of the world is ready to defend you at a moment's notice.
Poland was the only country where a minority ‐ 45% ‐ said they would choose to remain neutral in a hypothetical conflict between the U.S. and Russia. A third of Poles said they would back the U.S. while only 6% said they would support Russia.
Greece and Slovakia strongly favored neutrality ‐ 81% and 65% respectively ‐ but, despite both countries being members of NATO, those polled also showed higher support for Russia than the U.S.
In Slovakia, 20% said they would side with Moscow in a conflict, compared to 6% for the United States. In Greece, support for Russia was only slightly higher than for the U.S. ‐ 7% compared to 5%.
In Germany, which is home to roughly 30,000 U.S. troops, 70% of those polled favored neutrality while 12% supported the U.S. and 7% Russia.
The findings were similar when it came to a potential conflict between the U.S. and China, with Europeans favoring neutrality by wide margins.
NATO should have ended when the Warsaw Pact dissolved. The USA should have demobilized after the Soviet Union collapsed also. But Eisenhower's prophecy about the military industrial complex proved to be accurate.
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