US military bases worldwide

[Philos]

Hi,

I was watching a John Pilger clip and he inspired me to look at a US military bases world map.

http://www.globalresearch.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/map-2.jpg

Well, looking at that, it is hard to criticise Trump’s present antics in light of the militarism going on through successive presidencies. It is a plain fact that the US military reaches in to 50 countries, and where they go they rarely leave.

There is some level of balance though. China and Russia are free of bases, and their common border allows an integral part of the globe to be US free. Interestingly, South America and Africa are also relatively free.

Comforting thoughts? Well, I guess the sideshow of US politics is just that, and the work is done below the media radar. So, we can stop worrying about particular presidents or parties, as they will all inherit this embedded structure as they come and go. The other thought is that the US worker has to pay for this behemoth in their tax dollars, and the ‘guest’ countries will be getting the ground rent.

But, when there is any bleating about Russian or Chinese ‘expansion’ I recommend a sobering look at the linked map.

A.

 

[TV and credit cards]

And this is post-BRAC for the most part.
Not that I advocate this colossal waste of money. I'd love to see it spent on research, education, and the like but the $640,0000,000,000 question is, is it better to have this one world cop on the beat and what do you think the world might look like without one? Would the world be a more stable place if many nations felt a need to build up their militaries in the absence of the US military? Would it be better if a nation, say, I don't know, Russia tried to fill that role of being the world cop?

 

[Tigers!]

Philos
Being from the UK perhaps you might be aware of how many bases the UK had around the world just before WWII.
Do you think those bases were a good idea?
Your answer to that question might help you with your original question.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Hi,

I was watching a John Pilger clip and he inspired me to look at a US military bases world map.

http://www.globalresearch.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/map-2.jpg

Globalresearch.ca is a conspiracy site. Credibility zero.

 

[Keith&Co.]

Hi,

I was watching a John Pilger clip and he inspired me to look at a US military bases world map.

http://www.globalresearch.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/map-2.jpg

Globalresearch.ca is a conspiracy site. Credibility zero.

No, no, I'm sure there's at least one military site in any country that's been filled in. Not sure if they're all active or mothballed, or weather stations, or satellite contact stations that were built by NASA but report to SPAWAR, or actually native bases that have an agreement with the US and host a US unit... Or office.

Not sure if i'd paint the ENTIRE country red for, say, one air base or a pair of radar stations or an ancient coal refueling station, but maybe the map's just really busy if they try to nail down the exact nature of the US infiltration of the nation.

 

[Philos]

Folks,

After a night's sleep I've decided that this thread subject is too heavy for me. Its one thing to take a casual interest in world politics and another to wade in deep on a subject like this, especially in these incendiary times.

I'm going to fold my cards and take a stroll down to our allotment in the spring sunshine.

Apologies.

A.

 

[funinspace]

Globalresearch.ca is a conspiracy site. Credibility zero.

No, no, I'm sure there's at least one military site in any country that's been filled in. Not sure if they're all active or mothballed, or weather stations, or satellite contact stations that were built by NASA but report to SPAWAR, or actually native bases that have an agreement with the US and host a US unit... Or office.

Not sure if i'd paint the ENTIRE country red for, say, one air base or a pair of radar stations or an ancient coal refueling station, but maybe the map's just really busy if they try to nail down the exact nature of the US infiltration of the nation.

Yeah, painting a whole country read for one base is kind of excessive, and hardly tells the whole story. At the same time, they didn't paint Cuba red for Gitmo. Also, bases like the one we lease from the UK on Diego Garcia don't get shown as it a island in the middle of the Indian Ocean.

But I'm not sure why the map wouldn't be considered generally valid as the US is known to have 600-800 bases around the world depending on what is counted. We have a couple thousand US soldiers peppered across Africa (mostly the horn) most of the time doing what they do, but without official US bases.

 

[Keith&Co.]

But I'm not sure why the map wouldn't be considered generally valid as the US is known to have 600-800 bases around the world depending on what is counted. We have a couple thousand US soldiers peppered across Africa (mostly the horn) most of the time doing what they do, but without official US bases.

I would not count it as generally valid because I believe they're intentionally trying to be alarmist.

At a minimum, it could use a great deal more granularity.

Little flags showing where troops are, perhaps.

Or maybe flags showing the general levels of spending at a given facility or within a certain country.

SOMETHING more than 'this country is contaminated by an unspecified US presence....'

 

[funinspace]

But I'm not sure why the map wouldn't be considered generally valid as the US is known to have 600-800 bases around the world depending on what is counted. We have a couple thousand US soldiers peppered across Africa (mostly the horn) most of the time doing what they do, but without official US bases.

I would not count it as generally valid because I believe they're intentionally trying to be alarmist.

At a minimum, it could use a great deal more granularity.

Little flags showing where troops are, perhaps.

Well, yeah all that would be better. It gets complicated as well, as our military gets sucked into the War on Drugs (hey it has war in the title). It also is involved with some of the intelligence gathering at facilities around the world, which isn't exactly a Rifle Company looking for shooting orders.

This article does a better job presenting the information from linky:
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/06/us-military-bases-around-the-world-119321
Basically, I doubt any graphic could cover the complexity sufficiently. One would need a 30 page PDF paper...

Or maybe flags showing the general levels of spending at a given facility or within a certain country.

You are talking about the US military which has never been able to complete an internal audit as mandated by Congress since 1990?

 

[Keith&Co.]

You are talking about the US military which has never been able to complete an internal audit as mandated by Congress since 1990?

No, i'm talking about whoever is trying to imply that America has an imperial presence in all those countries in which it has built one or more bases (operational or mothballed), or assigned one or more soldiers in the country on a permanent or temporary basis, which i suspect was the goal of the map in the OP.


And as a side note, the one and only base i've ever been to that's off of American soil was the sub base in Holy Loch, Scotland, and we have closed that site. Don't need forward support for the subs as our missiles' current unclassified range is HOLY SHIT! nautical miles...

 

[ZiprHead]

Expect to see black helicopters in your near future, blabbermouth.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

Expect to see black helicopters in your near future, blabbermouth.

Ya, you don't see the black helicopters coming, dude.

 

[Keith&Co.]

Expect to see black helicopters in your near future, blabbermouth.

What? I WORK for the black helicon- um.
That is to say, I stuck to the unclassified values.
I mean, I don't have a white house twitter account...

 

[funinspace]

You are talking about the US military which has never been able to complete an internal audit as mandated by Congress since 1990?

No, i'm talking about whoever is trying to imply that America has an imperial presence in all those countries in which it has built one or more bases (operational or mothballed), or assigned one or more soldiers in the country on a permanent or temporary basis, which i suspect was the goal of the map in the OP.

I get that, but my point was that even the US military cannot provide a full accounting of where trillions have gone. So I think it would be pretty hard for any outside group to account for how much the US military spends at various bases/facilities around the world. A head count of at least what the military/spooks let us know about is going to be a much easier goal. Which is what the graphic I provided tries to do...