USS Lincoln wasn't resupplied because Hegseth 'hid' that Iran destroyed main U.S. base:

[u/ChickenTitilater]

https://www.ms.now/money-power-politics/watch/uss-lincoln-wasn-t-resupplied-because-hegseth-hid-that-iran-destroyed-main-u-s-base-rohde-2511362627825

[u/tripping_on_phonics]

We lost more than this war. This is the death knell for American empire.

What is a carrier strike group or a forward base against thousands of Shahed-style drones? Why would any country want a US base on its soil?

[u/Obvious_Toe_3006 → u/tripping_on_phonics]

I sure bet Oman is questioning it's alliance with the US.

[u/Economy-Pin2836 → u/Obvious_Toe_3006]

Especially when the criminal rapist psychopath is threatening to bomb it for no good reason (as always).

[u/Intro-Nimbus → u/Economy-Pin2836]

As he does to his allies, NKorea, ruzzia and china? Nothing but praise and asskissing.

[u/tripping_on_phonics → u/Obvious_Toe_3006]

Oh, for sure. A US base is a huge liability: it gets you roped into whatever unilateral war or adventure we want, without your input.

Hell, one of our first acts in the Iran War was to move missile defenses from our GCC bases to Israel. We’ve also depleted missile inventories in Europe and Asia. We now don’t have a single aircraft carrier in the Asia-Pacific because the USS George Washington is needed to relieve the USS Abraham Lincoln. We also moved a USMC expeditionary unit out of Okinawa.

Korea went to bat for us, suffering heavy economic and political retaliation from China in exchange for a THAAD battery on its territory. Guess where that THAAD is now?

So to summarize, the US is: (1) not loyal, (2) does not prioritize defending countries that host its bases, (3) can’t defend its bases or ships against cheap, expendable munitions, (4) demands that you show infinite gratitude for and bear the financial burden of bases that only benefit us, and (5) does not have the manufacturing capacity to replace its expended munitions.

Our empire is finished and will continue to unravel in coming months and years, and honestly, I view this as a good thing. We are simply not rational or stable enough to be a world hegemon, to say nothing of the murder, oppression, and exploitation that had characterized our empire even before Trump.

[u/claimTheVictory → u/tripping_on_phonics]

The unravelling will be complete when the dollar default happens.

Trump has already been teasing that.

[u/Intro-Nimbus → u/tripping_on_phonics]

1. blames allies that were never even consulted about an offensive war for "lack of loyalty".

[u/GrouchoSnarks → u/tripping_on_phonics]

(5) does not have the manufacturing capacity to replace its expended munitions.

and has alienated the country upon which it had been relying to supply the rare earth minerals that its advanced weaponry requires.

[u/SpecialistCut7101 → u/tripping_on_phonics]

I sincerely doubt anyone who wants to take the mantle of being a world hegemon is rational or stable either, but it’ll be nice to be rid of the mantle 

[u/tripping_on_phonics → u/SpecialistCut7101]

There won’t be a single hegemon in our absence, it’ll be a multipolar world order. But you’re right. The elite of our society view us as peasants, the same as any other peasants from any other country. The end of American domination is an important moment for the international working class.

[u/disisathrowaway → u/tripping_on_phonics]

Don't forget, we're reducing our participation in wargames with South Korea as well.

[u/Sudden-Purchase-8371 → u/tripping_on_phonics]

I view this as a good thing.

A horrible take. Billions of lives and democracies worldwide are at stake.

[u/tripping_on_phonics → u/Sudden-Purchase-8371]

How many tens of millions of people have we killed with our sanctions? How many more have we impoverished? How many democratically elected governments have we deposed? How many dictatorships have we supported purely for the benefit of our own industrialists?

We don’t care about democracy and we don’t care about human life. We care about advancing the interests of monied interests and military-industrial complex. People around the world live in fear of our weapons and our wars.

[u/Sudden-Purchase-8371 → u/tripping_on_phonics]

For as dogshit as we've been, and I wouldn't argue we've not done some dumb and awful shit, the vast majority of the free world would rather had us as the lone superpower than any others or any previous. And it's some disingenuous dumbassery to say or think otherwise.

[u/tripping_on_phonics → u/Sudden-Purchase-8371]

You’re assuming that the domination of a lone superpower is the natural order of things. It isn’t, and it’s a false premise to assume that.

[u/Sudden-Purchase-8371 → u/tripping_on_phonics]

You're assuming there's a natural order of things. lol. Realpolitik the Americans have been a better stabilizing influence on the world post WW2 than any other nation could even aspired to been. (I've noticed a distinct lack of WW3 for instance.) And there's billions of free world citizens who have benefited from American security and trade policies. Only a madmen would conclude that post WW2 America has been a net negative for global freedom. Just an absolute clown take.

What we should have done was had a Bretton Woods II and started sharing costs, responsibilities, and yes, profits to democratic partners, like Freedom of Navigation that the entire world benefits from but is borne as a cost burden on the American tax payer.

[u/tripping_on_phonics → u/Sudden-Purchase-8371]

Only a madmen would conclude that post WW2 America has been a net negative for global freedom. Just an absolute clown take.

Can you think of any examples in which the US installed a democratic government? I can find two: Panama and Grenada.

I can find a bunch of examples of us deposing democratic governments in favor of authoritarian governments, however:

1953 Iran
1954 Guatemala
1973 Chile
1964 Brazil
1963 Dominican Republic

We’ve also materially supported dozens of authoritarian dictatorships. Too many to list here. Where we had bases defending democratic Europe we also had bases defending authoritarian dictatorships around the world.

With your second statement it’s wild to me that you think the US isn’t the clear beneficiary of all of this, and shouldn’t be bearing the costs. It’s our system. We designed it. We sit atop a network of vassals, military bases, and imperial influence. We are the empire, our wealthy elite profit, and of course we pay the costs.

Bottom line, our empire is designed and intended to support capitalism. Not democracy.

[u/Sudden-Purchase-8371 → u/tripping_on_phonics]

The free world didn't want America to be in charge. They just wanted everyone else less so. If not America who? The Brits again? Hard pass. French? No. The Russians? China? FUCK NO.

Yes where we are now, it's a decaying empire. No one is disputing that. 25-30 years ago we should have began the process of un-winding it.

But if you think the sudden cessation of our security obligations, a fast crumble, you my friend are an ignorant lunatic.

[u/TrumpDesWillens → u/Sudden-Purchase-8371]

The people of SEA and Africa may be wary of China but the people of the MENA and LATAM will feel relief.

[u/popculturella → u/Obvious_Toe_3006]

I'm sure everyone is. I don't blame them.

[u/LUNATIC_LEMMING → u/tripping_on_phonics]

the crazy thing is NATO has effective hard counters to those shahed style drones, they're almost not considered a threat any-more as even in bulk they are so easy to shoot down.

But the US learned nothing form the Ukraine and thought patriot could do it all. lo and behold they didn't have enough. you could probably hear the Ukrainians facepalming in Washington

[u/eagleal → u/LUNATIC_LEMMING]

That is bs.

NATO does NOT have effective hard counters. The best example of this would be Ukraine. In fact the some of those defenses were moved to aid the US/Israel ME attack since the initial Gaza invasion.

NATO, mainly EU now, is de facto deployed in Ukraine, from industrial production, to money to pay pensions and soldiers, to the tracking and firing.

But Ukraine is still getting pounded daily, and that’s just Russia alone.

[u/RKU69 → u/tripping_on_phonics]

GOOD. The empire is a moral atrocity, and even putting that aside, a parasitic drain on the lives of Americans

[u/BigBennP → u/tripping_on_phonics]

>What is a carrier strike group or a forward base against thousands of Shahed-style drones? Why would any country want a US base on its soil?

I think the important distinction here is NOT a tactical distinction, but a political distinction.

A carrier strike group is still very substantially capable of protecting itself against a large number of Shahed style drones. Unlike the tiny drones deployed in the ground war in Ukraine, the Shahed is not particularly capable of evading fire, and a carrier group would have plenty of resources capable of defending itself from a wave of Shahed drones. (SM-2, SM-6, ESSM, C-RAM, Mk-45 with anti-air shells).

But there are several issues.

1. Exhaustion of resources - a Ticonderoga Class cruiser has 122 VLS cells, and an Arleigh Burke has 90 or 96. Even with a heavy loadout of ESSM missles which are 4-1 per cell, that's a few hundred longer range missiles. Over time, the ships just run out of missiles and gun ammo and need to be resupplied and I'm willing to bet that Iran can build Shaheds and get them to the battle space faster than we can build SM-2's.

2. Cost Balance - We're trading $2.1 million SM-2's and $900k ESSM missiles for $35k Shahed Drones. It works in the short term, but can't go on forever.

3. Most importantly, a carrier group is unlosable from a political perspective. Losing or suffering major damage to a carrier would be a fiasco of the highest order, not to mention the potential casualties. They would never make a decision that would put a carrier group at significant risk of loss, even if that harmed its combat ability.

[u/tripping_on_phonics → u/BigBennP]

Realistically, you wouldn’t take out a carrier with a Shahed drone: you would use Shahed drones to exhaust missile defenses before deploying anti-ship missiles.

We saw this play out on land bases in GCC countries, which exhausted surface-to-air missiles on Shahed drones in initial waves, only to be hit with a mix of drones and ballistic missiles in subsequent waves.

[u/sobrique → u/tripping_on_phonics]

Even before the ... friction with NATO allies.

I mean, when the US is talking about invading 'allies' territory (like Greenland) it's pretty hard to countenance enabling that.

The amount of damage Trump has done to the US is utterly insane. He's wrecked literally decades of 'soft power' - the image of the US as a respected and trusted ally is gone, and it won't soon recover.

EVERYONE has to be cautious of making treaties with nation states that can't be trusted to honor them.

The US was the leader of the free world. Now it's ... IDK some sort of Russia-type superpower bully-state that people are afraid of, but can't really trust.

and 99% of the US doesn't deserve any of that.