Comments by "Doncarlo" (@doujinflip) on "Why does the US have 800 military bases around the world?" video.

  1. Right, the sea lanes alone wouldn't be nearly as safe and open without the near constant presence of the US Navy on the high seas. A multipolar world might actually be more dangerous and chaotic, because one side's pirate/terrorist might really be employed as another's privateer/freedom fighter.
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  2. Probably meant OCONUS, which has always been administered differently within the DoD
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  3. The US doesn't have nearly the same attitude. You never hear of the phrase "The Sun never sets on the Stars and Stripes", and most Americans would consider you poetic for saying it. We're just very expeditionary whether we're military, missionary, government, or civilian, and we readily move to anywhere where our presence is tolerated if not welcomed.
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  4. Right, much like how the US Interstate Highway System was fundamentally to create a resilient network of high-speed roads for military convoys, but nowadays has become the primary pathway for civilian logistics and regular commuters.
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  5. No, the host nations invite US forces to stay -- otherwise they'll 1) take a huge and often unrecoverable drop to the local economy; 2) blow their own budgets trying to regain the same level of protection by themselves; and 3) lack a convenient scapegoat to redirect internal unrest The Americans will leave if asked, but that risks an even worse alternative. Just ask Iraq (ISIL) and the Philippines (Mainland China).
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  6. They'd likely join the list of places who regretted asking the Americans to "Go Home": Iraq (ISIL), the Philippines (Mainland China), and Afghanistan (Taliban). I can't think of any place that really prospered with the post-Cold War closure of a US base outside of maybe the SF Bay Area.
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