ISMS 1 – The United States Won WW2.5, but Who Lost?

<p>WW2.5 is what I like to call “The US against who?” You may say China or Russia. In my opinion, those are both wrong. It’s the US against Europe. And the US just won. The Russia-Ukraine conflict has encouraged US dominance over Europe. Let’s take a deeper look at this dominance.</p><p><a href="https://myworstinvestmentever.com/getpdf/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>Click here to get the PDF with all charts and graphs</strong></a></p><h2>Military dominance</h2><p>The US has more than 60,000 troops in Europe, half of which are in Germany, a third in Italy, and the UK. The US operates more than 200 military bases in Europe. People often like to say that it’s China or maybe Russia that will take over the world. But when I look at it objectively, Russia is almost a non-issue for the US. Here’s why:</p><ul><li>Economically, it’s tinier than the US</li><li>Militarily, the US military budget is 10X the Russian budget</li><li>People worldwide are more likely to prefer the US political system over the Russian one</li></ul><br/><p>Almost all European countries joined <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">NATO</a>, and the US now controls it. NATO membership means Europeans participate as “peacekeepers” in US conflicts. In today’s world, joining NATO means getting involved in military action worldwide for Europeans.</p><h2>Political dominance</h2><p>In 2018, Trump raised the issue of Germany’s energy dependence on Russia in a meeting with Jens Stoltenberg, Secretary-General of NATO.</p><p>https://youtu.be/9LLZBVTid4I</p><p>The conversation shows that back when Trump was in power, the US tried to get Germany to stop getting oil and gas from Russia. This was a move to control Russia’s dominance.</p><p>The absence of former Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel and her coalition’s political leadership in Europe​ has allowed the US to fill the gap, for example, forcing Germany to cut off the Russian oil and gas supply​. European political leaders will find it h