The US doesn't have foreign military bases on their soil but they do host "rotational bases" meaning foreign militaries can come in to these bases for "training purposes and bilateral ties" the same goes vice versa with countries the US doesn't have bases in (Philippines, Thailand, Mongolia, Kazakhstan etc.) And it's not just USS seawolf it's seawolf class submarines
A very important point. We don’t “charge” them to come here. If you want to work with us- we will work with you. Come one, come all. I seen many uniforms from many countries on my base.
@@kilowhiskey7973 The Germans have a permanent artillery training location on Fort Sill, and I've worked alongside the Brits when they came to Fort Bragg before.
How about the multiple historical bases which the us wasted a lot of cash on those countries... Simply handed over but yeah I do believe there some black sites so yeah...
How about the multiple historical bases which the us wasted a lot of cash on those countries... Simply handed over but yeah I do believe there some black sites so yeah...
The title is a little misleading, as it seems to imply the base strategy doesn't make sense and is flawed for some reason. But it works exactly as the US Military intended it to and is amazing at projecting power internationally, as not cool and imperialistic that may be.
@@samdherring Nuclear war wouldn't be "the end of the world". Probably the end of modern civilization, but not the end of the world. That's why our leaders and billionaires have built bunkers for themselves.
@@tomcollins5112 well its not like countries have that many nukes to use at every small FOB the us has out in the world, strategically speaking. nukes bases without airfields makes next to no sense.
You know those super secret project last century like the f117. A reason they showed us is that they wanted to and needed to show supremacy against the soviets. After the collopase of the soviet union they didn't realy need to reveal anything. I'd be expecting more advanced systems in the future with the rise of China
+ Romans 10:9-10 "That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved."
It was actually the Brits who did that. That’s why when the Chagossians are allowed to visit Diego Garcia, they’ll invite Americans to their picnics but not the Brits. They’ll even ask you if you’re an American or a Brit. Many of them were kids when that incident happened and they remember the Brits instructing them to start packing the very morning they found their dead dogs. When the first American forces showed up months later to start construction, they had no idea how the Chagossians were convinced to leave. The Chagossians told their story after they got settled in Mauritius and Brit troops that were involved confirmed the story after they left active duty. The Brits were desperate to lease the island to the U.S. The alternative for the U.S. was probably leasing a base in Southern India, which would’ve been a lot less boring for guys like me than Diego Garcia. In DG, you either become a drunk, a chunk, or a hunk (choose drinking or eating or working out). Oh, and the internet sucked donkey balls. The only cool thing about the place was that it was where conspiracy theorists thought there was a CIA black site (I wish) and the place was mentioned in the Transformers movie. This video really made ‘lily pads’ sound more special than they are. If there’s not a bunch of stuff getting sent to a large operation, your outpost kinda feels like the world forgot you exist. older guys saw it as a place to mellow out before retirement. Younger guys felt like they got grounded by their parents.
I think of a lot of these as pre-built logistics. Like a set of bases-in-waiting that could be expanded upon if the US interest in a region changes. Instead of starting from nowhere with a bunch of tents you have the landing pads, sheds, wire fences and skeleton crew in place. US naval and air power wants their own logistics around the world. It's a lot easier to refuel a jet in Qatar or pilot a drone from a container somewhere on an island than doing it from the US mainland.
@@SoapinTrucker A lot of them don't even seem to have anything stored. They're just shells where something could get stored in the future, or skeletons that could be expanded into larger base structures if need be. There's more and more people behind the scene for every combat soldier today.
The base in the middle of the Australian outback was placed there so that any communications going in and out of it wouldn't be able to be picked up by ships on the Australian coast.
As for Philippines , US used to have a Military Bases Agreement which was signed in 1950s with PH where US Military Bases in The Philippines are fully Controlled by US but that changed in 1992 when US withdrew their Naval Forces at U.S Naval Station Subic located in Northwest of Manila used to be the largest US Naval Base in Southeast Asia. now it’s been replace for Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement “EDCA” where US can still Station Troops and Military Jets, Planes and stockpile of Military hardwares at Bases where both PH and US Govt agreed those bases are Basa Air Base and Fort Magsaysay both in Northern Luzon, PH these are Joint Bases Facilities of US and PH it houses both Philippine Military and US Military Troops, Clark Air Base in Pampanga Province even though it’s under PH Air Force since 1991 now they still use Clark Air Base for their surveillance flights in South China Sea and also Clark is where they usually held their Balikatan exercises, US Troops mostly Marines in Southern Philippines (Zamboanga City) stationed at Edwin Andrews Air Base and Camp Navarro have been stationed there since 2001 it was part of their Operation Enduring Freedom- Philippines now “Operation Pacific Eagle” to support Philippine armed forces war against Insurgency. This agreement is a legal framework for US Troops Deployment and Stationing in Philippines under the US-RP Mutual Defense Treaty which was also signed in 1950s, For me US Have both pros and cons bad part is US Troops have a bad history in PH involving prostitutions outside the base of Subic Naval Base back in 70s,80s to 90s but that’s in the past and can be forgiven the good part is US is really helping its allies by providing aid, good security and humanitarian aid , For me if US Troops needs an early Curfew to avoid Prostitution bars at night so be it but As a Filipino I support Philippines for still hosting US Forces why? Because PH Military still needs guidance whether we like it or not we still lack of Military Equipments of our own second we need good intelligence with them especially with our war with insurgents in the South third People’s Republic of China kept harassing Philippine Coast Guard and local Fishermen in our territorial waters claiming all part of China we can’t fight China on our own. US is not perfect it has a lot of flaws and BS politicians but it is still way better than China and Russia and that’s only my opinion.
What is so special about the Seawolf class that you should point to it as something special in a hush hush conspiratorial manner? The US has no less than seventy two nuclear submarines ALL of which are just as capable as the Seawold class of sneaking close to shore. If you want to single out special submarines that specifically function as mobile bases, you should perhaps instead point to the Ohio Class Guided Missile Submarines of which there are four. These are former Boomers, ballistic missile nuclear submarines, that have been converted to carry an utterly massive arsenal of Tomahawk Cruise Missiles. Furthermore, they are outfitted to be able to host a force of 66 Special Forces soldiers with all necessary equipment to support and deploy them stealthily.
the Ohio is a ballistic missile sub, also its big and loud. The sea wolf class is a very rare and expensive class of attack submarine, only 3 were built because they were so expensive and the Cold War had just ended. the sea wolf is the most silent of any nuclear submarine built, therefore no, no other submarine in the world is as capable as the seawolf, tho im sure many submarines can sneak close to the shore.
@@JasonC683 Click the bell and you'll get a notification everytime the channel uploads, even sends it to your Phone too if you're logged in on the same account there
Nope. It’s still a part of a British overseas territory (British Indian Ocean territory), but it’s been leased to the US until 2036. But the U.K. still has its own military bases on the island as well, and the US has to pay the U.K. but I couldn’t find how much money the U.K. government were given.
@@asneakychicken322 It's interesting to see how the US took advantage of Britain's comparative weakness during WWII to dismantle it's strategic stance around the world. You could also observe this during the Suez Crisis when the US fleet was shadowing the Royal Navy and the French Navy..
All of Taiwan is internationally recognised as part of China, just the losing part of the civil war. Therefore there shouldn't even be any bases there, if we applied non hypocritically the concept of territorial integrity. But it only applies to US allies like Ukraine and Georgia while US enemies suddenly need "freedom" and their minorities are free to secede
@@gamermapper Taiwan's not recognized as part of PRC though. Many countries use very specific language to describe their stance on Taiwan and PRC. US, for example, in its official statement in 1972 says "The US ACKNOWLEDGES that Chinese on either side of the Taiwan Strait maintain there is but on China and that Taiwan is part of China. The US does not challenge that position" which is similar to what many other have done. If you read it carefully, it doesn't say it recognizes China's claims to Taiwan, merely that it acknowledges the Chinese position. This was clarified in 2007 with US saying "U.S policy has not recognized the PRC's sovereignty over Taiwan" and "U.S policy has not recognized Taiwan as a sovereign country." Japan uses similar wordings to US, Canada and UK say "take note of Beijing's position".
But of course, Taiwan's not dumb and they don't report such incidents as incursions. It's usually reported as an incursion if PLA aircraft crosses the meridian.
@@chinguunerdenebadrakh7022 This isn't about Taiwan independence. Taiwan doesn't want to be independent. It claims all of mainland China as its own territory. In fact, Taiwan claims more land than even PRC China does with claims extending into Russia, India, Mongolia, Japan, etc. So this is a very complicated situation that cannot be simplified into China bad.
@@zucced2087 It was technically All Mauritius and the courts still say it is. But when the British Decolonized they still wanted a base in the region so they kicked out everybody living their and payed off the plantation owners.
What the video doesn't mention is that a lot of those bases were set up in accordance with host nations at their discretion because they wanted US presence in that region or area for whatever motives from their point of view.
the scariest part of the DoD is not its weapons but its lawyers, they will and can find any loophole to get into a nation within international law if the host allows it and they will stay there. If that doesn't work they just call the CIA to change a few laws lmao
@@Presario3440 Trump even threatened Germany (where the largest US base outside of the US mainland is located) to pull troops out of Germany. The Germans hated that, since the US military being there allows them to have a small military and consequently save a lot of money... just saying. And the people here in Germany, who live close to the bases normally love them since they provide jobs.
The EU isn’t filled with welfare states for no reason. Not spending billions on your own defense and that money goes right into the bureaucracy. Controversial but true.
Nice video with some good information. Have never heard about those Lilly Pads before. Thanks. However, a few notes to take: 1. The USS Connecticut (Seawolf-class), this year, had a "situation", in the South China Sea, on October 2nd. Some 11 sailors were injured and since then, the submarine has been repaired back home. China has several times, asked the US, whether any radioactive leak occurred? But to the best of my knowledge the US has not replied. The official story is that an accident occurred, however, although they do happen, from time to time, there has also been speculations about a chinese weapon, of some sort. By the way, as you I am also from Denmark, and I am pretty sure that one of our advanced companies delivered some part-technology to the skin of the submarine, - years ago that is. But I am not completely sure. 2. In terms of the base-strategy, it is working fine, as long as the bases/locations, do not have to defend them selfs. But with the new drone capabilities, in the domain of war, they may be in danger, in the future. Because, even poor militias, now have the capability, to acquire and use them. And poor local militias are not the only entities who wants to punish the US military. Plenty of international terror organisations have the same objective.
@@future3805 I kinda get the vibe that China did something bad and now is eager to get a damage report. Almost like a bully getting exited over having hurt some kid. Idk I might have been way too philosophical there.
Reply to number 2. The small skeleton crew bases were tested rigorously in the Afghan war, tye US set up a bunch of little outposts to deter the Talibain from important villages. It worked very well; Even when the talibain used drones against these US Outposts
Those red dots at the beginning aren’t only just American bases, e.g Ascension Island is UK overseas territory. And has an RAF base. No American planes are permanently based there
@7:55 There is a so called 'World Peace' we are living in. Peace has been a rare occurrence in human history and this, now, is one of the longest periods of peace. 'The Fallen of Wold War II' has a great visualisation of what 'War" and "Peace" mean in terms of number of lives lost.
@@HNreport relatively speaking, we are living in a much more peaceful era. Yes, there are wars in 3rd world countries. But most of them are much lower intensity.
@@AliAbrahem wars in middle east and africa is brutal in their own ways, but there are many points in human history where conflict was a baisically common occurrence in pretty much everywhere around the globe (such as middle ages and ww1 and 2 era as most infamous examples) . So pretty much compared to back then, todays level of conflict is mild.
I think the US has a few soldiers at Denmark's largest airbase Flyvestation Karup. I can't really find anything about it but I'm pretty sure I have read about it. Perhaps it was a thing in the past history. I think it makes sense if they have a few soldiers at friendly allies. But if this also is a thing in other countries then it could be quite important.
This isn’t important and this doesn’t mean anything. The US is there for training. Whether it’s giving it or receiving it. Denmark is our ally. We will be training together. We share the same values. Most of the world is relatively friendly towards the west- so of course they will welcome their troops and the economic/training benefits that it brings.
@@kilowhiskey7973 Denmark is another NATO country, yeah. There's other NATO troops visiting from time to time. There's a US presence in a lot of NATO nations. Usually side by side with local national forces. Sweden has an arctic training facility, and as a NATO partner we host training exercises there.
Depends on how you look at it. Middle East is a terror hotbed and full of countries raring to go at each other. Otherwise, I think deterrence is working but at the same time it is also causing nations to feel threatened at the thought of a foreign superpower on their doorstep. All in all though, I would count it as a technical success that could maybe have been better.
Its amazing how he only has a surface level knowledge on all of these topics, but talks which such authority. He either doesn't provide context for any of his statements or entirely exaggerates them. Unfortunately, since most people have even less of an understanding of these topics this all seems very interesting and helpful.
Agreed. This is all fluff. He never really justified why the US base strategy is "insane" or "doesn't make sense" other than the US has a lot of them and occasionally has done some bad things to get them. Examples include his discussion on Pine Gap, where it's implied that it's "insane" because it's so secretive, as if the US doesn't have any other ultra-secretive sites. And then there's the Seawolf, which is "insane" because it went under the polar ice cap, as if plenty of other US, and Russian, SSNs haven't done the exact same thing. Diego Garcia is indeed sad, but when you look at its strategic proximity to the Middle East, it makes plenty of sense. You can argue whether these and other things are good or bad, but it's a stretch to imply that they don't make sense or are "insane".
@@amkessel2014 Diego Garcia's proximity to the middle East is secondary, IMHO. I think it's much more important as a air-naval base to control the Indian Ocean. Notice the B1 Lancers? Those can carry a shitload of ASMs, over a very long distance.
What this video failed to show is that USA also has bases on the moon, Neptune, Jupiter, Pluto, Mars, Uranus... The only body in the solar system which they have yet to setup a base on is the sun.
Quality content, but it would be worthwhile to look into a second opinion or perspective on this topic, as it seems like there’s a lot of conclusions made on information that isn’t entirely fully researched
Well I co-researched and co-wrote this video's script with an American. So I've done that, but maybe we could have included more people? I just feel at that point it's getting a bit ridiculous.
@@OBFYT what really struck me was towards the end, with the information on the Seawolf. It’s one of 3 Seawolf class SSNs, a class designed for combat in the Cold War, and because the Cold War ended as it was being produced, it was stopped being produced as it didn’t have a job. It’s the greatest submarine innovation of the time but didn’t have a job. What concerns me is that the way it was portrayed seemed to make it sound like it was a one of a kind secret submarine when it’s really not - depicting it going under the Arctic and being nuclear feels really sensationalist when those are normal things. The footage of a missile launch was from an SSGN, likely an Ohio class, not the Seawolf which has no vertical launch tubes, which may give the unintended impression of making it seem like part of the nuclear triad. I’m glad you researched the information about Diego Garcia and how bad things happened there, as people should know, but understanding why these bases all exist is also important, as sometimes there are good reasons outside of the US seeking to expand influence and hegemony. The segment at 8:20 regarding American exceptionalism feels kind of ignorant as well, as there’s a lot of reasons why the US military remains in other countries, mostly on invitation, and the example about foreign bases on US soil disregards military alliances and how the US’ role as a superpower ties into its overseas base strategy. I hope I didn’t come off as rude or anything, but I would say having a better understanding of how the military operates can be helpful when discussing military related topics. I’d recommend Cover Cabral and defense think tanks like CSIS to have a better idea, though whatever way you learn is totally good
@@OBFYT naval strategy at sea is something complex and has evolved dramatically since the end of the Cold War, and as something even more relevant today, knowing how all components of the military can work together to accomplish greater goals, especially at sea, is really important for audiences - the way it was discussed doesn’t quite feel as though it was something well understood
@@OBFYT it appears the American you co wrote the script with might’ve had certain opinions on the American military that matched your own preconceptions. I agree with Nil Kuan, you could’ve done more to show how often times countries want the US there, and your disregard for military alliances.
@@OBFYT man as non American, you did truly explain how non American feel towards us military, us military give non American same feeling what china military did. The reason which they give only us military has benefited. The idea that us military thought they giving peace, which reality that give china or Russia a reason as military threats to them give us wars.
Filipino here. I can attest about the US soldiers secretly camping here in the Island of Mindanao. During the Marawi Siege, they just popped out of nowhere and started giving useful intel. Also, there is a very famous mountain range here in Bukidnon where a indigenous peoples would suddenly awoken by the sound of a Lockheed Martin C-5 Galaxy taking off from nowhere. We can only surmised that they have a hidden cave base in that particular mountain.
One reason why the us spends so much is the sheer size of its economy. When excluding China you need the next 7 biggest economies to get the same gdp. You could also say 3-4% isn't an absurd amount to spend on your military. Especially when you want to have military presence everywhere and have to do alot for nato
But then again, it faces no plausible threats on its continent. The could spend absolutely nothing, and be just as safe. Also, the reason the US allies spend so little on defense, is because they can rely on the US to pay for it for them. It's hard to see how this benefits American citizens.
There is a lot of misinformation on this video, the US has been contracting from overseas for decades. Also, Diego Garcia was not inhabited when the Europeans found it. The "locals" were shipped there to harvest non native produce. Perspective is important.
@@boyahboy09 they were essentially squatters, not from their own choosing but that is realuty. They were being housed and fed at great expense by the government while not working after the company terminated their lease. Their situation was not tenable, they had to leave. The UN is a joke.
@@jiminy82 That's interesting, never heard that perspective before. If you were kind enough it would be nice to get some sources, I guess its also my job to fact check it myself but I'm a little lazy rn.
you should do a video about the Russian sub Belgorod, one scary piece of machinery (currently at sea somewhere in the Atlantic), especially when equipped with its 6 status six "Poseidon" city killing torpedoes.
“An *estimated* of 514 bases.” Me as secretary of Defense: Huh? Damn bruh, better check behind the couch- I think 300 whole bases spontaneously went missing. How didn’t we notice this? My PA: we have too many to keep track of all.
@@sharequsman596Thats fine. Take it with a grain of salt and do your own research. You don’t have to believe me. Again, do your own research. Many of these places are clear view of the public- unlike our adversaries bases. Gitmo Bay, Diego Garcia, the many coast guard/navy “bases” in Florida, and Pearl Harbor are all considered “Military Bases” and they are quite literally prisons, historical sites, logistics hubs smaller than most Amazon warehouses, and weather stations smaller than the local ones we get our weather information from lmao. You’re not going to find tanks, missiles, and aircraft carriers at any of these places. There are many more examples. The UN’s host nation, QUAD and NATO’s main ally is a global military which warrants support structures across the world to maintain our militaries. Many are genuinely support/logistics structures- and nothing more. It’s not exciting stuff, man.
The US has bases in other nations, almost invariably in agreement with those nations and for regional security issues. The US has no need for regional security from foreign nations. Hence, no bases. Your video could have benefited from either a different perspective or more thorough research.
It's like a pre-built logistical system. If they want to, the USA can expand these little bases-in-waiting or support other efforts from them. There's always some locals who dislike the Okinawa base. These are usually made in cooperation with local governments but they're not entirely frictionless.
If anyone really wants to grasp the magnitude of the US military industrial complex take this into account. The 2 largest airforces in the world are 1: the USAF and 2: the USN I believe the Marines separately from the Navy have an air force in the top 5 certainly in the top 10 and the US army has by far the largest helicopter force in the world. We have more BASES ON FOREIGN SOIL THAN ALL BUT 2 OTHER NATIONS HAVE FIGHTER JETS! This is absurd to really wrap your head around
@@melelconquistador that's definitely not true at least in recent decades. Maybe if referring to fighter jets than that could be true. Alternatively it could've been an anecdote that there were more Navy planes than Air Forces planes sometime back in ~WWII-Vietnam eras.
@@RealDixonPeter If the US military was allowed to fight those wars to its fullest extent, they never would have stood a chance. The US military is built to fight a conventional war, not guerilla wars. Plus, 'losing' in Vietnam and Afghanistan didn't really affect America much. The US pulled out of Vietnam in 1973, but the Soviet Union still collapsed. And Vietnam is forced to abandon it's communist policies to interact with the world. The US pulled out of Afghanistan but so what, the objective(killing Osama Bin Laden) have already been achieved. The biggest loser in the Afghan War are the Afghan people and the Taliban. The former are starving while the latter inherited a broken country that they destroyed and it turns out, they are incapable of fixing it(why do you think are they begging government officials to return to work?). If you want an example of this, compare the 1991 Gulf War to the 2003 Gulf War. In 1991, Iraq have the 5th largest army in the world due to fighting a war with Iran. The US only spent a month destroying that army and the actual invasion only lasted 3 days before America have to stop because Bush felt bad for the Iraqis(not an exaggeration, after the Highway of Death, Bush ordered all offensive movements to stop). This is one of the only wars where the US are pouring their full might to win. They weren't holding back here. In 2003, Bush's son have the brilliant idea of distracting everyone from the fact that the Afghan invasion failed to kill Bin Laden by invading Iraq. The invasion succeeded but then its ethnic groups began trying to kill each other and the allied forces were stuck in between. It took them years before they finally gain control of the situation. They were only able to start pulling out in 2011.
Recently a Seawolf-class submarine had a collision with an underwater structure or mountain, which prompted it to surface and head back to the states for repair. It was the USS Connecticut
@KUMAR BOIS On Internet they also have one in Djibouti. Theres also bases in artificial island in south china seas but rumors said that the islands are sinking 🤦♂️🤦♂️
Seawolf class Attack Submarines were practically the USN's pinnacle in sub to sub warfare.... until the cold war ended and the budget got cut and the price of the Sea wolf was viewed too expensive to continue production, thus why today you have the Virginia class which are essentially cheaper seawolfs.
Actually, the Virginia wasn't really because of budget cuts. The Virginia can be better described as Seawolfs optimized and streamlined for mass production. Virginias are fast, stealthy, nuclear powered, nearly as capable as makes no difference and punched out in two years from keel laying to launching. The three members of the Seawolf class were built in 6 and at the time were built as advanced technology demonstrators..
Hey man, good video, but I think it lacked some things, first of all, You only showed US African bases, and the specific cases of the Australian one, the island one and mentioned once Honduras, which I think it's a really centralized view of the topic, there are bases in South América, Eastern Europe, the Mediterranean and all of that. Also most bases are there because of COIN (counter-insurgency) operations, alliances and treaties, for example on África You have the ATA, in South América You have the Treaty of Rio and then You have NATO and some others, I would recommend You read the COIN handbook, I couldnt read all of it, but it has really interesting information regarding this topic. Finally, the US fleet on Asia it's mostly there because of the threat of China against Vietnam, The Philipines, Japan, South Korea and most importantly, Taiwan, maybe it also has something to do with the "recent" coup on Myanmar, but i'm not sure about that one.
So, as someone who lived in Okinawa and worked on a base for 5 years, I can tell you that the base isn't "despised." The older generation (those that remember what things were like during and just after WWII want it gone. However the current and previous generation have enjoyed a huge economic increase due to the influx of US personnel and money. The bases also provide jobs, hiring local nationals working for contract agencies, and many of the people I worked along side were Japanese nationals. I'm not saying this translates to other bases around the world, but at least with the bases in Okinawa, they're actually quite fond of the US presence.
@SubtoPolecat 324 neither does you. You havent shown anything either. What comment of yours that dropped fat facts of bomb on me? Its even more hilarious because you think you have proven something.
its kinda like a paradox in a way. If those US bases werent stationed, would other global power such as britain, france, china or russia would have replaced them
7:47 "I would love it if world peace became a reality but considering we know for a fact the United States already has more bases around the world than all other nations combined *and they still haven't achieved anything close to world peace*". Do you claim to know how the world would be without them? have you even given a single minute of thought to that mental exercise?
No, he did not or he ignored it. Has the USA done a lot of messed up stuff worthy to be condemned? Yes. Is her military presence part of these topics? Not really.
Yup, we’d have movement again, the rise of the superpower, nuclear armament, and America as a whole has been one of the largest factors of stagnating humanity as a whole. The fact that in under three hundred years you have become a completely bloated, corrupt and over all incredibly lazy peoples being floated by an increasingly bloated, unfair and political army, and navy, to the point of retention being close to after war periods. Your intelligence agencies are becoming cancerous, you have leaders on par with Europeans, your FDA is openly allowing chemicals and unhealthy amounts of plastics into your food, water and baby foods. You keep pretending you are the fittest fastest country but outside of your athletes you are being bought out by corporate and political interests that now place cowards and ineptitude in positions of power, not to mention the obvious religious elitism in your halls of power. Like I could keep going, and you as a people could be fixing this, but instead you focus on orange man bad, vote in a literal dementia patient that should be in a home, and complain what the world would do without you instead of fixing your issues. The world would be doing A LOT worse without America, It would also be doing A LOT BETTER without it as well.
Most of these “military bases” are quite literally logistics hubs or weather stations with 10-50 man crews. It is worth noting that other nations will use our bases too? The US needs a million bases around the world so we can push our democratic values that are ALSO within our allies interests. There shall not be any drawbacks unless our democratic friends (NATO/EU/etc) decide to foot the bill.
@@kilowhiskey7973 you invaded iraq for what 😂? For democracy hahah, oh right they had nukes hahaha. Hold up, something aint right, you telling me they didnt have any, damn bush you got me right there, nice one. Oh well, lets disguise it as spreading democracy ok? Yeah that sounds about right, they will buy it. Classic case of what happens when you dont want to sell oil to us in us dollars but decide that you want to sell it in euros
@@kilowhiskey7973 also i totally forgot to mention venezuela, libya, who got a piece of democracy spreading too, both doing amazing, they decide to not sell in dollars, boom, government struck down, economy ruined
@@timonbubnic322 when we invaded Iraq? Lol. Which time? The first Iraq invasion seems like a mighty fine justification to me. It still does. It had a lot to do with Democracy as well. Iraq annexing a democratic nation for purely financial gain will simply not fly. The move was so unpopular that nobody opposed US invasion. Not even Americas traditional adversaries. Russia and China supported Americas invasion into Iraq along with 36 nations deploying troops on the ground with us. If you’re talking about the 2003 invasion then you seem to forget that the war is largely unpopular with Americans and even American politicians… lmao. Are you trying to argue with me just because you oppose the US? It seems to me like we’re agreeing more than anything. It’s just irrelevant to what I’m saying. I’m not talking about ALL of the US’s wars, but a good portion of them are to spread the US’s democratic interests. Nobody and I mean NOBODY said the 2003 invasion into Iraq was about spreading democracy. Democracy was already being forced upon Iraq since the 1991 invasion. Also. Oil is traded in the USD because the USD is the most stable currency in the world. There is quite literally no alternative to the USD. Oil will never be traded in the Euro to the simple fact that the EU is corrupt… oh, and because things like BREXIT is always expected to happened. Regardless if you disagree with the facts, Europe hated Saddam. Who do you think told the US that their intelligence suspected him of having nuclear WMD’s? The Europeans. Another unrelated fact. Saddam had WMD’s. Sure, he didn’t have nuclear weapons BUT he did have the ingredients to make one (Ref; SCUD missiles and yellow cake uranium). He also had chemical weapons and was suspected of launching biological warfare on the coalition forces- both of which are actually considered WMD’s. Does that not justify invasion in its own right?
You say, "we knew nothing about this." but military Veterans know depending on what their job was... at the end you mentioned Okinawa... I was stationed there for 3 years. What a great culture and people. The elders there when I was there still held a grudge from WWII but everyone else seemed to welcome us. With the bases however, most of them there were Japanese WWII bases.
Isn't Okinawa famous for American soldiers abusing the locals? I remember reading an article years ago in one of the big papers, NYT maybe, that talked about American soldiers raping Okinawan locals and the locals receiving no support from the US or Japan in charging the rapists, etc. The US causes more suffering than good in the world, killing innocents, destroying countries, protecting the practice of slavery in the 3rd world, etc.
Is it just me, or are the mountains on the right-hand side of the screen at 11:58 just WAYYY too symmetrical. The mountains are a complete mirror image of each other. @OBF could you tell me where you sourced this image from, please?
You point out the large number of bases the US has around the world but fail to point out that many of those bases have very few personnel, with some having as few as 5 persons. If the US puts 20 soldiers/airmen/sailors in a location to train other nations troops or to simply maintain ground base satellite reception station with 10 persons, they call it a base. Wherever they put personnel they call it a base, so for your viewer, let be clear there aren't 500 bases with army brigades in each of them. Many of the larger bases are often bases of the host country and may have hundreds or thousands of host country troops and have 30 or maybe 60 us personnel training or assisting them. Some locations are logistic sites simple transport and storage sites for material, for example lots of the material the US needs to help defend Europe are warehoused overseas with small security and logistic personnel detachments. You also make is seem like they are mostly hidden from the public which is not true. You mention Diego Garcia stating that we don't hear much about it, that is simple not the case. Some of the controversy regarding you mention about DG is true, but it has been public knowledge. I have known about DG since I was in my early teen as it has based various US bombers over the years and is a naval support facility since WWII. Just because "you" have not heard of something before does not mean it is hidden. The omissions and mischaracterizations of this video take away for its good points.
@@pyjobijecnorix5986 It’s well constructed but also so incredibly naive, like, who doesn’t know why the USA has these bases? It’s not hard to look at different maps or research their history to find out that the strategy behind them is pretty smart.
The US probably needs to clarify what is a 'military base', a 'logistica site', a 'lily pad', or just a place to train an allied unit because the amount of American bases all over the world is ridiculous. Not even America' massive budget is enough to fund all of these places. Or maybe they shouldn't, the confusion might be the point. Basically its a feature, not a bug.
vice versa as well. There have been incidents regarding US Marines and Japanese women, but there have also been European towns having massive economic benefit due to a Large US Base presence. Goes both ways with no cookie cutter scenario.
While I don’t necessary agree with the tone of video (highly critical of the dominant US force around the globe, without mentioning that stability in these regions probably would exist without them) this is a well made vid and doesn’t lie.
@@r3dpowel796 Thanks to America, I didn’t die before reaching adulthood and didn’t die from a famine. The U.S has brought the world into an era of peace.
You forgot our paratrooper corps. The force projection abilities to put a division inside enemy territory within 24 hrs has quite the chilling effect on nations looking to start trouble in their neighborhood.
@@andyjacobs7010 the last I checked on our doctrines was to clear the way first with stealth craft to punch a whole in the AA control then use conventional bombing to down the platforms. This would also use dedicated aircraft to then clear out any mobile sites. But when rubber meets road airborne units operate with a much higher acceptable casualty rate before we are considered combat ineffective. It's why we do mass attacks on objectives that would otherwise need a smaller force. Once we are on the ground however, the numbers flip and we typically require less manpower to complete follow on missions due to our focus on individual initiative and violence of action.
@@nstyhl yup. I rewrote my last phrase a handful of times... unhappy with the ambiguity of the result. In short, US SEAD and other bombing operations (amongst other things) can make quick work of a great many things. Note 1991 and 2003 with US succeeding immensely in major combat operations against Iraq.
Great report. Surprised though you did not catch the recent accident of the Seawolf-class USS Connecticut when it hit a seamount spying in the South China Sea. Overall, I’m pretty disgusted at how our military-industrial complex and national security state suck us dry. While our infrastructure and social fabric decays they continue to build empire around the world, benefiting a small class at the expense of most.
Why would a Nuclear submarine be spying? Seems like we have better equipment to spy with than a sub, also last I checked it was China classic claiming Territory that isn't there's and building bases in the South China Sea
@@andyjacobs7010 well yeah, but even I, who did not live through the Cold War have always know Russia and China were the biggest threats facing the US in a world Powers sense. They've always been lurking and plotting, even when they haven't been an active threat. Then the 2016 elections happened, and that's when most Americans should have stared to see them as an active threat once again.
The roles changed, today we should try to integrate Russia into Europes economy as well as into NATO asap to prevent further Chinese influence in the region.
The ground branch cia guys talk a lot about what they did in podcasts. They said it’s an extension of what the military does just in non permissive environments. They do a reconnaissance, village stability, personal security, hostage rescue as well and snatch and grabs and stuff
On the plus side, on Diego they make good pizza, have no shortage of beer and the beaches are spectacular! Interestingly, whilst DG is occupied by circa 2000 US military, it is actually policed by British Police Officers! This makes for an amusing spectacle if things get out of hand. Japanese Sniper.
If the US closed down all its overseas bases and kept its ships in port, would that increase global stability and security? They demilitarized, didn’t expand military presence, and pursued isolationism during the 20 or so years between WWI and WWII. They didn’t/haven’t pursued the same post-WWI policies and strategy over the past 75+ years following the end of WWII.
The US sort of filled in the void left by and supported its allies as their colonial empires fell away. Not to mention that post WWII deals with perhaps the most bilateral split of powers with the USSR.
@@sp0ckz0mbi3 And on top of the benefit of the instantly-realized increase in stabilization that an action like this would result in, there would be no malign state or non-state actors that would seek to exploit the power vacuum created by the U.S. withdrawing all its influence (especially military) to within their boarders. There are no entities that would seek to subjugate and harm others if they were left unchecked. The U.S. only has its overseas presence to try to oppress as many of the world’s population as they can for their own monetary benefit and for no other reason. The world would essentially be liberated from the US’ obvious tyranny and subjugation with no negative direct, secondary or tertiary consequences, or unintended consequences.
That's a great idea. Close down all America's military bases, that sounds great. When have we heard that before? Oh yes, Afghanistan. People wanted America to leave Afghanistan and now that they did, they're begging the US for money. Kinda hilarious really. What's stopping Russia from invading Ukraine? What's stopping North Korea from invading South Korea? What's stopping China from invading Taiwan? What's preventing Iran and Saudi Arabia from duking it out in the Gulf? We have already caught a glimpse of what would happen if the US leaves. But then again, its not like that would affect America. Heck, global instability might actually be helpful for the US. This way, American companies would return to America instead of using cheap labor overseas. I mean, that was the norm before WW2. The wars in Europe and the relative stability in the US allowed America to grow its economy by taking advantage of European immigrants/cheap labor to grow its industries.
@@Based_Is_Best Your opinion is shared by the Afghan people until America left and now they're starving because of the Taliban takeover. At the moment, they're begging Americans to give them money(ungrateful bastards). We've already seen the type of problems that can happen from an American withdrawal.
9:55 its funny, because Taiwans airzone literally covers parts of mainland China, I cant imagine that it wasnt drawn that way intentionally to manufacture "invaded our airspace" stories every couple of months.
Bases around China is the most sensitive topics. While US says it agrees with one China policy and agrees that PRC as the legitimate government, it made pact with Taiwan government. Which in first glance doesn't sound anything out of norm but if you look at that carefully makes you question the motive behind the action. The one China policy means Taiwan and mainland china are the same country. So china being there is the natural thing and US being there is unnatural thing. Now you may say, it's because taiwanese government made deal with US, so US army is there. Which is most mind boggling thing to me. If Puerto Rico made defense deal with China and China came with nuclear powered destroyers to the edge of Puerto Rico in name of support, will US feel threatened or not? If the nation has good relationship with US, having US base is in fact good for them because it acts as deterrent. But what about it's neighbor? Not everyone is happy with the US action. 911 happened. It was done by bin laden from Afghanistan and the one US launched attack on was Saddam Hussein in Iraq. Yes he was dictator, but had done nothing against US. That begs the motive behind the action of US because Hussein wasn't the only dictator in the world but he was supposedly making buffer zone for bin laden and his mother nation Saudi Arabia. If you start to untangle the action of US army, more webs starts to surface. So not all nations are as accepting as their neighbors on having US bases. So here is my question, why does US wants to make army bases even when they know it will provoke the surrounding nations. If a rich person goes around it's neighborhood and starts putting CCTV cameras in neighborhood's houses by paying those poor families the offer they can't reject and pointing the cameras at anyone who won't accept the offer, do you think it's morally right thing to do?
i notice people like to use rimpac footage, thats not the US navy. thats just multiple nations together. while yes the navy has that amount of ships, no that is not the standard carrier battle group
Instead of saying that the US military bases don’t make sense this was a well-mannered rant about the US military as a whole? This went a bit too much off the rails for my liking
Huh? Seawolf class subs are always seen especially returning to their home port? Take the USS Jimmy Carter. And most nuclear submarine deployments from the UK to Russia are kept highly classified.
HIS PROCLIVITY TO EXPLORE IS THAT OF AN ANCIENT EXPLORER FROM A PRINCIPALITY, FROM CIRCA B.C.E. YET HIS TENDENCY OF BENEVOLENCE IS THAT OF AN ANCIENT EXPLORER FROM A MUNICIPALITY FROM CIRCA A.D. NONETHELESS, SHALL YOUR CREATIVE PROWESS PROSPER, AND THE TIDES OF HISTORY ALWAYS IN YOUR FAVOUR.
>"When it deployed it's military aircraft into Taiwan's air defense identification zone" You should state that Taiwan's air defense identification zone is literally 3x the size of Taiwan and takes up 40% of China's Fujian and Zhejiang provinces. It's incredibly misleading.
They could probably either cut their bases in Africa quite a bit or cut their Europe presence to compensate, except that Africa is a tough place to maintain large forces for environmental, logistical, political, and medical reasons, and Europe is right there from which to project larger forces. Hence a lot of small, forward logistics sites. Not all that many significant operating forces. Even Canada forward deploys a lot of stuff all over the place, and we hardly have either any stuff or manpower, but what we do have we send all over the world at the end of what would be epic logistical chains without a bit of deployed help.
High quality video that is mostly useless because of how biased it is. I appreciate your content, but much expect better than this. BTW, I'm not from the US or even a US-aligned country.
for wealthy nations maybe ...the "developing" the world is on fire high unemployment, drug wars, military juntas propped up by the west, genocides ignored by the same western human rights champions, a literal ethnostate in Israel, endless ethnic conflicts in Africa with a jihadist insurgency in the Sahel killing tens of thousands due to NATO cratering Libya, Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, etc etc ....the world isn't much more peaceful the conflicts just have a different dimension compared to the naked imperialism of the past with thousands still dying in the crossfire
@@franzjoseph1837 So, what makes Israel an ethnostate. As an aside, it would be interesting if anyone has statistics on "total violence related deaths and injuries" to compare overall percentages of different eras. Obviously this is to a degree an impossible task, but interesting to think about.
@@andyjacobs7010 bro they literally call themselves a Jewish state not just any state but one denoting their ethnicity.....European jews can come claim citizenship even if there family hasn't stepped a foot in Palestine for a three thousand years meanwhile palestinians who lived like 40 years ago cannot nor can I since I'm not Jewish. It is by definition a ethnostate in the Sam's sense australia was or Canada or the United States or Rhodesia .
Amazing video and quality content. Did not know about lily pads. When it comes to expansion, it's either the US or China/Russia. Although the US needs to be held more accountable for actions like relocation, I suppose the other superpowers are just as guilty. There's at least a small chance of accountability with the US unlike the others. UN sure won't do anything.
dont know what type of expansion youre pointing at - i dont knoe about russia but china has exactly 3 foregn military bases. Besides, on accountability, the us litterary has a law allowing the us military to invade the netherlands if an american citizen is to be tried at the hague
Not sure why you count subs as bases. They can't deploy troops (to my knowledge). They are mobile missle silos basically. Aircraft carriers can deploy forces tho.
There is no foreign bases on US soil because there is no need for foreign bases on US soil. DOD installations in the US are developed enough that there is no need for a foreign country to build their own bases in the US. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t any foreign military presence in the US. Go to any major and some minor military installation in the US and you’ll see foreign military personnel all the time. An entire Battalion of British soldiers was just in Louisiana last summer. Canadian troops are even literally permanently stationed in one of the most secretive USAF installation in Cheyenne mountain. One time I literally saluted a Latvian and a Polish intel officer while leaving the dining facility, on my way back to the fire academy where the class that’s two weeks ahead of me has a Soldier from the Turkish Land Forces. When I was in fort Benning, I was too impatient because a whole platoon of British paratroopers were getting lunch at the post exchange so I went to the Burger King on post and I struck up a conversation with a Colombian soldier also in line to order. The African Land forces summit literally just closed last week in Fort Benning.
Very interesting. I'm watching on a US overseas base. But you ignore most people want in these countries want us where we are. People are very friendly to me the moment they find out I am a member of the US Army.
I'm sure they appreciate the fact that you're able to drone strike their neighbors, but that doesn't apply everywhere. Come to my country and you'll be told to fuck right off, respectfully.
lucky for me, i live in a country that does not get bombed by the US, but instead which supports the US spying on its neighbors, holding political prisoners on our land, and which supports the US in its effort to bomb other countries, so most people here would be very friendly with you.
PLEASE CORRECT! The Chagos Archipelago is the territory of the Republic of Mauritius, by a ruling for tge International Court of Justice. This is a big deal in Mauritius...please do the need full.
Seawolfs are not often heared off because there are so few hulls compared to the "newer" Virginia class subs. Seawulf was designed for duking it out with USSR ship formations and has high endurance and weapon payload but was waaaay to expenceive to be build in large numbers with the end of the cold war. Also as a arsenal ship its not nesseraryly the best ship to operate in the costal reginas very close to china. plus US anti ship weapons fell of quite a bit compared to some other nations who keeps inovation going in teh face of countermesures that didnt existed or wasnt mature during the cold war.
Sign up to Curiosity Stream today for just $14.99 for an entire YEAR!
curiositystream.com/OBF
So 9 days for 15 dollars?
@@divat10 "For an entire year" not "for this year" lol
Now to keep things fair do one on China
diego garcia is remote there is nothing close to it....
The US doesn't have foreign military bases on their soil but they do host "rotational bases" meaning foreign militaries can come in to these bases for "training purposes and bilateral ties" the same goes vice versa with countries the US doesn't have bases in (Philippines, Thailand, Mongolia, Kazakhstan etc.) And it's not just USS seawolf it's seawolf class submarines
The Germans used to have a base, but they left.
A very important point. We don’t “charge” them to come here. If you want to work with us- we will work with you. Come one, come all. I seen many uniforms from many countries on my base.
@@kilowhiskey7973 The Germans have a permanent artillery training location on Fort Sill, and I've worked alongside the Brits when they came to Fort Bragg before.
How about the multiple historical bases which the us wasted a lot of cash on those countries...
Simply handed over but yeah I do believe there some black sites so yeah...
How about the multiple historical bases which the us wasted a lot of cash on those countries...
Simply handed over but yeah I do believe there some black sites so yeah...
The title is a little misleading, as it seems to imply the base strategy doesn't make sense and is flawed for some reason. But it works exactly as the US Military intended it to and is amazing at projecting power internationally, as not cool and imperialistic that may be.
In the age of tactical nukes, aren't bases just missile targets?
@@tomcollins5112 If the leader is the likes of Kim Jong Un, then yes.
@@tomcollins5112 tactical nuke usage is a quick way to escalate into the big ones. Who wants to start the end of the world?
@@samdherring Nuclear war wouldn't be "the end of the world". Probably the end of modern civilization, but not the end of the world. That's why our leaders and billionaires have built bunkers for themselves.
@@tomcollins5112 well its not like countries have that many nukes to use at every small FOB the us has out in the world, strategically speaking. nukes bases without airfields makes next to no sense.
People: US spends so much on military, they must have hyper advanced technology by now.
Where US military budget actually goes:
they are not showing us current technologies.
You know those super secret project last century like the f117. A reason they showed us is that they wanted to and needed to show supremacy against the soviets. After the collopase of the soviet union they didn't realy need to reveal anything.
I'd be expecting more advanced systems in the future with the rise of China
Just imagine if maybe... maybe they spend money on more than one thing
@@krib1887 so true the us dosent parade there new tech like China and Russia
+ Romans 10:9-10 "That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved."
"They went as far as gassing the local's pet dogs as a show of seriousness."
"You shot my dog you bastard" is as good a war cry as any.
Island John wick is being made at this moment
for SURE if only it had gone differently
"The owner watched in her live feed camera as authorities beat up her two dogs to death"
Not good if they did.
It was actually the Brits who did that. That’s why when the Chagossians are allowed to visit Diego Garcia, they’ll invite Americans to their picnics but not the Brits. They’ll even ask you if you’re an American or a Brit. Many of them were kids when that incident happened and they remember the Brits instructing them to start packing the very morning they found their dead dogs. When the first American forces showed up months later to start construction, they had no idea how the Chagossians were convinced to leave. The Chagossians told their story after they got settled in Mauritius and Brit troops that were involved confirmed the story after they left active duty. The Brits were desperate to lease the island to the U.S. The alternative for the U.S. was probably leasing a base in Southern India, which would’ve been a lot less boring for guys like me than Diego Garcia. In DG, you either become a drunk, a chunk, or a hunk (choose drinking or eating or working out). Oh, and the internet sucked donkey balls. The only cool thing about the place was that it was where conspiracy theorists thought there was a CIA black site (I wish) and the place was mentioned in the Transformers movie. This video really made ‘lily pads’ sound more special than they are. If there’s not a bunch of stuff getting sent to a large operation, your outpost kinda feels like the world forgot you exist. older guys saw it as a place to mellow out before retirement. Younger guys felt like they got grounded by their parents.
I think of a lot of these as pre-built logistics. Like a set of bases-in-waiting that could be expanded upon if the US interest in a region changes. Instead of starting from nowhere with a bunch of tents you have the landing pads, sheds, wire fences and skeleton crew in place.
US naval and air power wants their own logistics around the world. It's a lot easier to refuel a jet in Qatar or pilot a drone from a container somewhere on an island than doing it from the US mainland.
So, a cache. Yup, been around for a long time. Stash a cache. Kind of like saving money for a rainy day, isn't it? ;)
@@SoapinTrucker A lot of them don't even seem to have anything stored. They're just shells where something could get stored in the future, or skeletons that could be expanded into larger base structures if need be.
There's more and more people behind the scene for every combat soldier today.
US military strategy is to be able to show up anywhere in the world within hours
The base in the middle of the Australian outback was placed there so that any communications going in and out of it wouldn't be able to be picked up by ships on the Australian coast.
yeah, there's even a room in JDF-PG that is technically considered "American Soil"
As for Philippines , US used to have a Military Bases Agreement which was signed in 1950s with PH where US Military Bases in The Philippines are fully Controlled by US but that changed in 1992 when US withdrew their Naval Forces at U.S Naval Station Subic located in Northwest of Manila used to be the largest US Naval Base in Southeast Asia. now it’s been replace for Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement “EDCA” where US can still Station Troops and Military Jets, Planes and stockpile of Military hardwares at Bases where both PH and US Govt agreed those bases are Basa Air Base and Fort Magsaysay both in Northern Luzon, PH these are Joint Bases Facilities of US and PH it houses both Philippine Military and US Military Troops, Clark Air Base in Pampanga Province even though it’s under PH Air Force since 1991 now they still use Clark Air Base for their surveillance flights in South China Sea and also Clark is where they usually held their Balikatan exercises, US Troops mostly Marines in Southern Philippines (Zamboanga City) stationed at Edwin Andrews Air Base and Camp Navarro have been stationed there since 2001 it was part of their Operation Enduring Freedom- Philippines now “Operation Pacific Eagle” to support Philippine armed forces war against Insurgency. This agreement is a legal framework for US Troops Deployment and Stationing in Philippines under the US-RP Mutual Defense Treaty which was also signed in 1950s, For me US Have both pros and cons bad part is US Troops have a bad history in PH involving prostitutions outside the base of Subic Naval Base back in 70s,80s to 90s but that’s in the past and can be forgiven the good part is US is really helping its allies by providing aid, good security and humanitarian aid , For me if US Troops needs an early Curfew to avoid Prostitution bars at night so be it but As a Filipino I support Philippines for still hosting US Forces why? Because PH Military still needs guidance whether we like it or not we still lack of Military Equipments of our own second we need good intelligence with them especially with our war with insurgents in the South third People’s Republic of China kept harassing Philippine Coast Guard and local Fishermen in our territorial waters claiming all part of China we can’t fight China on our own. US is not perfect it has a lot of flaws and BS politicians but it is still way better than China and Russia and that’s only my opinion.
Yeah fuck Russia and China.
What is so special about the Seawolf class that you should point to it as something special in a hush hush conspiratorial manner? The US has no less than seventy two nuclear submarines ALL of which are just as capable as the Seawold class of sneaking close to shore.
If you want to single out special submarines that specifically function as mobile bases, you should perhaps instead point to the Ohio Class Guided Missile Submarines of which there are four. These are former Boomers, ballistic missile nuclear submarines, that have been converted to carry an utterly massive arsenal of Tomahawk Cruise Missiles. Furthermore, they are outfitted to be able to host a force of 66 Special Forces soldiers with all necessary equipment to support and deploy them stealthily.
That whole segment on Seawolf aged like milk consider one just collidided with something in the South China Sea.
They're laughing.
the Ohio is a ballistic missile sub, also its big and loud. The sea wolf class is a very rare and expensive class of attack submarine, only 3 were built because they were so expensive and the Cold War had just ended. the sea wolf is the most silent of any nuclear submarine built, therefore no, no other submarine in the world is as capable as the seawolf, tho im sure many submarines can sneak close to the shore.
Yeah seriously. The Seawolf and Connecticut are used as spare parts boats for the Carter. The Carter is the one actually doing secret squirrel shit.
@@inkedseahear laughing at what? We know less about the ocean floor than outer space. Seawolf ran aground on an underwater mountain... Supposedly.
As a small RUclipsr it amazes me how well put together your videos are how long does it take for you to research them.
Depends, can take anywhere from 1 to 2 weeks to make a video. Research typically takes 1-2 days. Some take longer though, again it depends.
Im surprised this was not showing up in my youtube recommendations even though I'm subscribed. Coincidence?
@@JasonC683 Click the bell and you'll get a notification everytime the channel uploads, even sends it to your Phone too if you're logged in on the same account there
@@OBFYT is this your full time job? I constantly struggle with giving time to my passion for film making vs my job.
@@JasonC683 probably a coincidence tbf - i got this as a recommended video
Didn't the British trade Diego Garcia with the US in WWII, in exchange for multiple US destroyers?
Gave US access to Diego Garcia (Its a shared base) in exchange for Nuclear Warheads.
Nope.
It’s still a part of a British overseas territory (British Indian Ocean territory), but it’s been leased to the US until 2036.
But the U.K. still has its own military bases on the island as well, and the US has to pay the U.K. but I couldn’t find how much money the U.K. government were given.
And it got leased to the US in 1966….. after WW2 and after the U.K. got nukes.
Most of that was for bases on islands in the Atlantic like Bermuda, Newfoundland, Jamaica etc. It was called the destroyers for bases deal after all.
@@asneakychicken322 It's interesting to see how the US took advantage of Britain's comparative weakness during WWII to dismantle it's strategic stance around the world. You could also observe this during the Suez Crisis when the US fleet was shadowing the Royal Navy and the French Navy..
I am so sad to hear about OBFs recent suicide. His videos were so good and it was such an unfortunate accident.
wtf, i'm still alive bud
are you high
@@OBFYT the joke:basically you got assinated by CIA and it was hiden as you commiting sodoku
@@verden2323 oh I get it
@@OBFYT wish ya weren’t after this video “bud”.
Video title: The US's Military Base Strategy Doesn't Make Sense
Video content: Explains why US's military base strategy makes sense
Accurate.
9:50 Funny thing is Taiwan's ADIZ overlaps a significant chunk of mainland China so they're violating Taiwan's ADIZ the moment the planes take off.
All of Taiwan is internationally recognised as part of China, just the losing part of the civil war. Therefore there shouldn't even be any bases there, if we applied non hypocritically the concept of territorial integrity. But it only applies to US allies like Ukraine and Georgia while US enemies suddenly need "freedom" and their minorities are free to secede
@@gamermapper Taiwan's not recognized as part of PRC though. Many countries use very specific language to describe their stance on Taiwan and PRC. US, for example, in its official statement in 1972 says "The US ACKNOWLEDGES that Chinese on either side of the Taiwan Strait maintain there is but on China and that Taiwan is part of China. The US does not challenge that position" which is similar to what many other have done. If you read it carefully, it doesn't say it recognizes China's claims to Taiwan, merely that it acknowledges the Chinese position.
This was clarified in 2007 with US saying "U.S policy has not recognized the PRC's sovereignty over Taiwan" and "U.S policy has not recognized Taiwan as a sovereign country."
Japan uses similar wordings to US, Canada and UK say "take note of Beijing's position".
But of course, Taiwan's not dumb and they don't report such incidents as incursions. It's usually reported as an incursion if PLA aircraft crosses the meridian.
@@chinguunerdenebadrakh7022 the meridian is an imaginary border that the US created.
@@chinguunerdenebadrakh7022 This isn't about Taiwan independence. Taiwan doesn't want to be independent. It claims all of mainland China as its own territory. In fact, Taiwan claims more land than even PRC China does with claims extending into Russia, India, Mongolia, Japan, etc. So this is a very complicated situation that cannot be simplified into China bad.
I'm pretty sure Mauritius doesn't have a US base, unless you are grouping Diego Garcia with Mauritius (which is currently controlled by the UK).
The video didn't say it did. The inhabitants of Diego Garcia were evicted and forced to move to Mauritius.
@@zucced2087 the infographic has Mauritius with a red dot
Mauritius have indian military base
@@thecreepers3478 lol not finished yet
@@zucced2087 It was technically All Mauritius and the courts still say it is. But when the British Decolonized they still wanted a base in the region so they kicked out everybody living their and payed off the plantation owners.
What the video doesn't mention is that a lot of those bases were set up in accordance with host nations at their discretion because they wanted US presence in that region or area for whatever motives from their point of view.
The population usually opposes those bases. And some try to sabotage their operation.
the scariest part of the DoD is not its weapons but its lawyers, they will and can find any loophole to get into a nation within international law if the host allows it and they will stay there. If that doesn't work they just call the CIA to change a few laws lmao
@@Presario3440 Trump even threatened Germany (where the largest US base outside of the US mainland is located) to pull troops out of Germany. The Germans hated that, since the US military being there allows them to have a small military and consequently save a lot of money... just saying. And the people here in Germany, who live close to the bases normally love them since they provide jobs.
The EU isn’t filled with welfare states for no reason. Not spending billions on your own defense and that money goes right into the bureaucracy. Controversial but true.
@@PatrickSnowyote yeah i like our welfare system but it isnt sustainable, time to get the freeloaders off their asses!
I love how you take inspiration from other creators and make your own unique spin to it. Wonderful job brother.
Nice video with some good information. Have never heard about those Lilly Pads before. Thanks.
However, a few notes to take:
1. The USS Connecticut (Seawolf-class), this year, had a "situation", in the South China Sea, on October 2nd. Some 11 sailors were injured and since then, the submarine has been repaired back home.
China has several times, asked the US, whether any radioactive leak occurred? But to the best of my knowledge the US has not replied. The official story is that an accident occurred, however, although they do happen, from time to time, there has also been speculations about a chinese weapon, of some sort.
By the way, as you I am also from Denmark, and I am pretty sure that one of our advanced companies delivered some part-technology to the skin of the submarine, - years ago that is. But I am not completely sure.
2. In terms of the base-strategy, it is working fine, as long as the bases/locations, do not have to defend them selfs. But with the new drone capabilities, in the domain of war, they may be in danger, in the future. Because, even poor militias, now have the capability, to acquire and use them. And poor local militias are not the only entities who wants to punish the US military. Plenty of international terror organisations have the same objective.
china demanding honesty from the us?
an situation you rarely see lmao
@@future3805 China is probably the reason that "situation" occured.
@@future3805 I kinda get the vibe that China did something bad and now is eager to get a damage report. Almost like a bully getting exited over having hurt some kid. Idk I might have been way too philosophical there.
Reply to number 2. The small skeleton crew bases were tested rigorously in the Afghan war, tye US set up a bunch of little outposts to deter the Talibain from important villages. It worked very well; Even when the talibain used drones against these US Outposts
Those red dots at the beginning aren’t only just American bases, e.g Ascension Island is UK overseas territory. And has an RAF base. No American planes are permanently based there
UK let's America use any of it's bases, so they might as well be American bases
A lot of them are pre-built infrastructure and logistics, like little bases-in-waiting that could be expanded if needed.
@7:55
There is a so called 'World Peace' we are living in. Peace has been a rare occurrence in human history and this, now, is one of the longest periods of peace. 'The Fallen of Wold War II' has a great visualisation of what 'War" and "Peace" mean in terms of number of lives lost.
That may apply to Europe and America, however many ongoing wars are still being waged and supported by the US.
Peace only in developed countries you mean. Countries in Africa and the middle east would say otherwise
@@HNreport relatively speaking, we are living in a much more peaceful era. Yes, there are wars in 3rd world countries. But most of them are much lower intensity.
@@AliAbrahem and how does that disprove my point, exactly?
@@AliAbrahem wars in middle east and africa is brutal in their own ways, but there are many points in human history where conflict was a baisically common occurrence in pretty much everywhere around the globe (such as middle ages and ww1 and 2 era as most infamous examples) . So pretty much compared to back then, todays level of conflict is mild.
I think the US has a few soldiers at Denmark's largest airbase Flyvestation Karup. I can't really find anything about it but I'm pretty sure I have read about it. Perhaps it was a thing in the past history. I think it makes sense if they have a few soldiers at friendly allies. But if this also is a thing in other countries then it could be quite important.
This isn’t important and this doesn’t mean anything.
The US is there for training. Whether it’s giving it or receiving it. Denmark is our ally. We will be training together. We share the same values.
Most of the world is relatively friendly towards the west- so of course they will welcome their troops and the economic/training benefits that it brings.
@@kilowhiskey7973 Denmark is another NATO country, yeah. There's other NATO troops visiting from time to time. There's a US presence in a lot of NATO nations. Usually side by side with local national forces.
Sweden has an arctic training facility, and as a NATO partner we host training exercises there.
Denmark is a NATO member. There are most certainly US assets stationed in Denmark
Well, any war that occurred post WWII has been either a civil war or an isolated regional conflict. Does that count as success? Hard to say.
You are too optimistic: the price for post WWII wars is about millions of victims, especially civilians.
Depends on how you look at it. Middle East is a terror hotbed and full of countries raring to go at each other. Otherwise, I think deterrence is working but at the same time it is also causing nations to feel threatened at the thought of a foreign superpower on their doorstep. All in all though, I would count it as a technical success that could maybe have been better.
@@aalb1873 that’s far better than industrialized military capable nations fighting
It has its imperfections, as everything does.
But to succinctly answer your question: yes.
@@gallaugal9099 Natural Deterrence. If everyone feels at risk with everyone else, then peace is maintained.
Its amazing how he only has a surface level knowledge on all of these topics, but talks which such authority. He either doesn't provide context for any of his statements or entirely exaggerates them.
Unfortunately, since most people have even less of an understanding of these topics this all seems very interesting and helpful.
Agreed. This is all fluff. He never really justified why the US base strategy is "insane" or "doesn't make sense" other than the US has a lot of them and occasionally has done some bad things to get them.
Examples include his discussion on Pine Gap, where it's implied that it's "insane" because it's so secretive, as if the US doesn't have any other ultra-secretive sites. And then there's the Seawolf, which is "insane" because it went under the polar ice cap, as if plenty of other US, and Russian, SSNs haven't done the exact same thing. Diego Garcia is indeed sad, but when you look at its strategic proximity to the Middle East, it makes plenty of sense.
You can argue whether these and other things are good or bad, but it's a stretch to imply that they don't make sense or are "insane".
@@amkessel2014 Diego Garcia's proximity to the middle East is secondary, IMHO. I think it's much more important as a air-naval base to control the Indian Ocean. Notice the B1 Lancers? Those can carry a shitload of ASMs, over a very long distance.
THANK YOU my god he doesn't even answer or follow through his statement in the title.
lol...that's RUclips! Anyone can become an expert!
The video timing strategy is insane
Huh?
Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus - The original Latin of the expression "if you want peace, prepare for war"
Public fresher yellows reborn??
What this video failed to show is that USA also has bases on the moon, Neptune, Jupiter, Pluto, Mars, Uranus...
The only body in the solar system which they have yet to setup a base on is the sun.
Bro didn’t you hear about the new base on the sun yet? It finished two weeks ago.
@@gallaugal9099 Elon musk has been tasked with helping build bases on mars
@@someguy1907 yeah?
Goddamit I've got the US in Myanus too.
as someone from the us, learning about my country from a foreign perspective is so, SO refreshing
Quality content, but it would be worthwhile to look into a second opinion or perspective on this topic, as it seems like there’s a lot of conclusions made on information that isn’t entirely fully researched
Well I co-researched and co-wrote this video's script with an American. So I've done that, but maybe we could have included more people? I just feel at that point it's getting a bit ridiculous.
@@OBFYT what really struck me was towards the end, with the information on the Seawolf. It’s one of 3 Seawolf class SSNs, a class designed for combat in the Cold War, and because the Cold War ended as it was being produced, it was stopped being produced as it didn’t have a job. It’s the greatest submarine innovation of the time but didn’t have a job.
What concerns me is that the way it was portrayed seemed to make it sound like it was a one of a kind secret submarine when it’s really not - depicting it going under the Arctic and being nuclear feels really sensationalist when those are normal things. The footage of a missile launch was from an SSGN, likely an Ohio class, not the Seawolf which has no vertical launch tubes, which may give the unintended impression of making it seem like part of the nuclear triad.
I’m glad you researched the information about Diego Garcia and how bad things happened there, as people should know, but understanding why these bases all exist is also important, as sometimes there are good reasons outside of the US seeking to expand influence and hegemony. The segment at 8:20 regarding American exceptionalism feels kind of ignorant as well, as there’s a lot of reasons why the US military remains in other countries, mostly on invitation, and the example about foreign bases on US soil disregards military alliances and how the US’ role as a superpower ties into its overseas base strategy.
I hope I didn’t come off as rude or anything, but I would say having a better understanding of how the military operates can be helpful when discussing military related topics. I’d recommend Cover Cabral and defense think tanks like CSIS to have a better idea, though whatever way you learn is totally good
@@OBFYT naval strategy at sea is something complex and has evolved dramatically since the end of the Cold War, and as something even more relevant today, knowing how all components of the military can work together to accomplish greater goals, especially at sea, is really important for audiences - the way it was discussed doesn’t quite feel as though it was something well understood
@@OBFYT it appears the American you co wrote the script with might’ve had certain opinions on the American military that matched your own preconceptions. I agree with
Nil Kuan, you could’ve done more to show how often times countries want the US there, and your disregard for military alliances.
@@OBFYT man as non American, you did truly explain how non American feel towards us military, us military give non American same feeling what china military did. The reason which they give only us military has benefited. The idea that us military thought they giving peace, which reality that give china or Russia a reason as military threats to them give us wars.
Filipino here. I can attest about the US soldiers secretly camping here in the Island of Mindanao. During the Marawi Siege, they just popped out of nowhere and started giving useful intel. Also, there is a very famous mountain range here in Bukidnon where a indigenous peoples would suddenly awoken by the sound of a Lockheed Martin C-5 Galaxy taking off from nowhere. We can only surmised that they have a hidden cave base in that particular mountain.
One reason why the us spends so much is the sheer size of its economy. When excluding China you need the next 7 biggest economies to get the same gdp. You could also say 3-4% isn't an absurd amount to spend on your military. Especially when you want to have military presence everywhere and have to do alot for nato
If most NATO members don't spend the required 2%, someone has to compensate.
@@davidturner4076 exactly
But then again, it faces no plausible threats on its continent. The could spend absolutely nothing, and be just as safe. Also, the reason the US allies spend so little on defense, is because they can rely on the US to pay for it for them. It's hard to see how this benefits American citizens.
@@jackroutledge352 it benifits the US goverment
@@jackroutledge352 it does benefit them. More spending guarantees more peace(if the country spending doesn't start wars)
There is a lot of misinformation on this video, the US has been contracting from overseas for decades. Also, Diego Garcia was not inhabited when the Europeans found it. The "locals" were shipped there to harvest non native produce.
Perspective is important.
Hilarious
It's still their Homeland. The united nations has sided the court case in the Islanders favor
@@boyahboy09 they were essentially squatters, not from their own choosing but that is realuty. They were being housed and fed at great expense by the government while not working after the company terminated their lease. Their situation was not tenable, they had to leave.
The UN is a joke.
@@jiminy82 That's interesting, never heard that perspective before. If you were kind enough it would be nice to get some sources, I guess its also my job to fact check it myself but I'm a little lazy rn.
They still lived there for several generations and the British government did do all sorts of sleazy shit to get them removed.
Very good video. That seawolf website is kinda funny, i'd like to imagine it hosts only a picture of those ocean going Vancouver Island wolfs
you should do a video about the Russian sub Belgorod, one scary piece of machinery (currently at sea somewhere in the Atlantic), especially when equipped with its 6 status six "Poseidon" city killing torpedoes.
“An *estimated* of 514 bases.”
Me as secretary of Defense: Huh? Damn bruh, better check behind the couch- I think 300 whole bases spontaneously went missing. How didn’t we notice this?
My PA: we have too many to keep track of all.
Most of these “bases” are weather stations and logistics hubs with no more than 10-75 people working them.
This video is garbage.
@@kilowhiskey7973 Sure mate I don't believe u
@@sharequsman596Thats fine. Take it with a grain of salt and do your own research. You don’t have to believe me. Again, do your own research. Many of these places are clear view of the public- unlike our adversaries bases.
Gitmo Bay, Diego Garcia, the many coast guard/navy “bases” in Florida, and Pearl Harbor are all considered “Military Bases” and they are quite literally prisons, historical sites, logistics hubs smaller than most Amazon warehouses, and weather stations smaller than the local ones we get our weather information from lmao. You’re not going to find tanks, missiles, and aircraft carriers at any of these places. There are many more examples.
The UN’s host nation, QUAD and NATO’s main ally is a global military which warrants support structures across the world to maintain our militaries. Many are genuinely support/logistics structures- and nothing more. It’s not exciting stuff, man.
The US has bases in other nations, almost invariably in agreement with those nations and for regional security issues. The US has no need for regional security from foreign nations. Hence, no bases. Your video could have benefited from either a different perspective or more thorough research.
It's like a pre-built logistical system. If they want to, the USA can expand these little bases-in-waiting or support other efforts from them.
There's always some locals who dislike the Okinawa base. These are usually made in cooperation with local governments but they're not entirely frictionless.
The base on tinian island is actually fine and not for scrutiny as it is sovereign US soil
If anyone really wants to grasp the magnitude of the US military industrial complex take this into account. The 2 largest airforces in the world are 1: the USAF and 2: the USN I believe the Marines separately from the Navy have an air force in the top 5 certainly in the top 10 and the US army has by far the largest helicopter force in the world.
We have more BASES ON FOREIGN SOIL THAN ALL BUT 2 OTHER NATIONS HAVE FIGHTER JETS! This is absurd to really wrap your head around
And why should I care. As long you don’t do anything to my country I wouldn’t give a shit
Yet they get there asses handed to them..BY AFGHANISTAN.. VIETNAM.. 🤣🤣
@@melelconquistador that's definitely not true at least in recent decades. Maybe if referring to fighter jets than that could be true. Alternatively it could've been an anecdote that there were more Navy planes than Air Forces planes sometime back in ~WWII-Vietnam eras.
@@wiry9395 no one ask you to care lmao attention seeker
@@RealDixonPeter If the US military was allowed to fight those wars to its fullest extent, they never would have stood a chance.
The US military is built to fight a conventional war, not guerilla wars. Plus, 'losing' in Vietnam and Afghanistan didn't really affect America much.
The US pulled out of Vietnam in 1973, but the Soviet Union still collapsed. And Vietnam is forced to abandon it's communist policies to interact with the world.
The US pulled out of Afghanistan but so what, the objective(killing Osama Bin Laden) have already been achieved. The biggest loser in the Afghan War are the Afghan people and the Taliban. The former are starving while the latter inherited a broken country that they destroyed and it turns out, they are incapable of fixing it(why do you think are they begging government officials to return to work?).
If you want an example of this, compare the 1991 Gulf War to the 2003 Gulf War.
In 1991, Iraq have the 5th largest army in the world due to fighting a war with Iran. The US only spent a month destroying that army and the actual invasion only lasted 3 days before America have to stop because Bush felt bad for the Iraqis(not an exaggeration, after the Highway of Death, Bush ordered all offensive movements to stop). This is one of the only wars where the US are pouring their full might to win. They weren't holding back here.
In 2003, Bush's son have the brilliant idea of distracting everyone from the fact that the Afghan invasion failed to kill Bin Laden by invading Iraq. The invasion succeeded but then its ethnic groups began trying to kill each other and the allied forces were stuck in between. It took them years before they finally gain control of the situation. They were only able to start pulling out in 2011.
Recently a Seawolf-class submarine had a collision with an underwater structure or mountain, which prompted it to surface and head back to the states for repair. It was the USS Connecticut
Ok? So? It happens.
Your videos are always high quality, great content. Thank you.
Thank you!
Can you perform chinese overseas bases? 😁
@KUMAR BOIS On Internet they also have one in Djibouti. Theres also bases in artificial island in south china seas but rumors said that the islands are sinking 🤦♂️🤦♂️
@@haninditabudhi6574 You forgot a bunch on the African continent AND Sri Lanka.
Seawolf class Attack Submarines were practically the USN's pinnacle in sub to sub warfare.... until the cold war ended and the budget got cut and the price of the Sea wolf was viewed too expensive to continue production, thus why today you have the Virginia class which are essentially cheaper seawolfs.
Actually, the Virginia wasn't really because of budget cuts. The Virginia can be better described as Seawolfs optimized and streamlined for mass production. Virginias are fast, stealthy, nuclear powered, nearly as capable as makes no difference and punched out in two years from keel laying to launching. The three members of the Seawolf class were built in 6 and at the time were built as advanced technology demonstrators..
Hey man, good video, but I think it lacked some things, first of all, You only showed US African bases, and the specific cases of the Australian one, the island one and mentioned once Honduras, which I think it's a really centralized view of the topic, there are bases in South América, Eastern Europe, the Mediterranean and all of that. Also most bases are there because of COIN (counter-insurgency) operations, alliances and treaties, for example on África You have the ATA, in South América You have the Treaty of Rio and then You have NATO and some others, I would recommend You read the COIN handbook, I couldnt read all of it, but it has really interesting information regarding this topic. Finally, the US fleet on Asia it's mostly there because of the threat of China against Vietnam, The Philipines, Japan, South Korea and most importantly, Taiwan, maybe it also has something to do with the "recent" coup on Myanmar, but i'm not sure about that one.
You could say that America is very BASED.
So, as someone who lived in Okinawa and worked on a base for 5 years, I can tell you that the base isn't "despised." The older generation (those that remember what things were like during and just after WWII want it gone. However the current and previous generation have enjoyed a huge economic increase due to the influx of US personnel and money. The bases also provide jobs, hiring local nationals working for contract agencies, and many of the people I worked along side were Japanese nationals. I'm not saying this translates to other bases around the world, but at least with the bases in Okinawa, they're actually quite fond of the US presence.
thats a lie. I was in Okinawa I dont know who says that but My cousin who lived in Okinawa think the base is an eye sore.
@SubtoPolecat 324 again you are generalizing.
@SubtoPolecat 324 NO I know a lot of people who dislike Your base. one of them is my cousin. soo Shut your mouth.
@SubtoPolecat 324 there is a VIdeo of this okinawa base on youtube. People lieterally protest.
@SubtoPolecat 324 neither does you. You havent shown anything either. What comment of yours that dropped fat facts of bomb on me? Its even more hilarious because you think you have proven something.
its kinda like a paradox in a way. If those US bases werent stationed, would other global power such as britain, france, china or russia would have replaced them
7:47 "I would love it if world peace became a reality but considering we know for a fact the United States already has more bases around the world than all other nations combined *and they still haven't achieved anything close to world peace*".
Do you claim to know how the world would be without them? have you even given a single minute of thought to that mental exercise?
No, he did not or he ignored it. Has the USA done a lot of messed up stuff worthy to be condemned? Yes. Is her military presence part of these topics? Not really.
Yup, we’d have movement again, the rise of the superpower, nuclear armament, and America as a whole has been one of the largest factors of stagnating humanity as a whole. The fact that in under three hundred years you have become a completely bloated, corrupt and over all incredibly lazy peoples being floated by an increasingly bloated, unfair and political army, and navy, to the point of retention being close to after war periods. Your intelligence agencies are becoming cancerous, you have leaders on par with Europeans, your FDA is openly allowing chemicals and unhealthy amounts of plastics into your food, water and baby foods. You keep pretending you are the fittest fastest country but outside of your athletes you are being bought out by corporate and political interests that now place cowards and ineptitude in positions of power, not to mention the obvious religious elitism in your halls of power. Like I could keep going, and you as a people could be fixing this, but instead you focus on orange man bad, vote in a literal dementia patient that should be in a home, and complain what the world would do without you instead of fixing your issues. The world would be doing A LOT worse without America, It would also be doing A LOT BETTER without it as well.
@pootis That's a low bar
To be fair world peace is never gone to happen with us or without us
Most of these “military bases” are quite literally logistics hubs or weather stations with 10-50 man crews.
It is worth noting that other nations will use our bases too?
The US needs a million bases around the world so we can push our democratic values that are ALSO within our allies interests. There shall not be any drawbacks unless our democratic friends (NATO/EU/etc) decide to foot the bill.
For democracy!!!! (synonym for oil)
@@timonbubnic322 I wish that statement was true so we could have invaded Saudi Arabia, but it’s not, so.
@@kilowhiskey7973 you invaded iraq for what 😂? For democracy hahah, oh right they had nukes hahaha. Hold up, something aint right, you telling me they didnt have any, damn bush you got me right there, nice one. Oh well, lets disguise it as spreading democracy ok? Yeah that sounds about right, they will buy it. Classic case of what happens when you dont want to sell oil to us in us dollars but decide that you want to sell it in euros
@@kilowhiskey7973 also i totally forgot to mention venezuela, libya, who got a piece of democracy spreading too, both doing amazing, they decide to not sell in dollars, boom, government struck down, economy ruined
@@timonbubnic322 when we invaded Iraq? Lol. Which time?
The first Iraq invasion seems like a mighty fine justification to me. It still does. It had a lot to do with Democracy as well. Iraq annexing a democratic nation for purely financial gain will simply not fly. The move was so unpopular that nobody opposed US invasion. Not even Americas traditional adversaries. Russia and China supported Americas invasion into Iraq along with 36 nations deploying troops on the ground with us.
If you’re talking about the 2003 invasion then you seem to forget that the war is largely unpopular with Americans and even American politicians… lmao. Are you trying to argue with me just because you oppose the US? It seems to me like we’re agreeing more than anything. It’s just irrelevant to what I’m saying. I’m not talking about ALL of the US’s wars, but a good portion of them are to spread the US’s democratic interests.
Nobody and I mean NOBODY said the 2003 invasion into Iraq was about spreading democracy. Democracy was already being forced upon Iraq since the 1991 invasion.
Also. Oil is traded in the USD because the USD is the most stable currency in the world. There is quite literally no alternative to the USD. Oil will never be traded in the Euro to the simple fact that the EU is corrupt… oh, and because things like BREXIT is always expected to happened. Regardless if you disagree with the facts, Europe hated Saddam. Who do you think told the US that their intelligence suspected him of having nuclear WMD’s? The Europeans.
Another unrelated fact. Saddam had WMD’s. Sure, he didn’t have nuclear weapons BUT he did have the ingredients to make one (Ref; SCUD missiles and yellow cake uranium). He also had chemical weapons and was suspected of launching biological warfare on the coalition forces- both of which are actually considered WMD’s. Does that not justify invasion in its own right?
I live in Victoria bc and once in the sailish sea there was a military helicopter that landed on a submarine
You say, "we knew nothing about this." but military Veterans know depending on what their job was... at the end you mentioned Okinawa... I was stationed there for 3 years. What a great culture and people. The elders there when I was there still held a grudge from WWII but everyone else seemed to welcome us. With the bases however, most of them there were Japanese WWII bases.
Isn't Okinawa famous for American soldiers abusing the locals? I remember reading an article years ago in one of the big papers, NYT maybe, that talked about American soldiers raping Okinawan locals and the locals receiving no support from the US or Japan in charging the rapists, etc. The US causes more suffering than good in the world, killing innocents, destroying countries, protecting the practice of slavery in the 3rd world, etc.
You can also say DARPA instead of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
Is it just me, or are the mountains on the right-hand side of the screen at 11:58 just WAYYY too symmetrical. The mountains are a complete mirror image of each other. @OBF could you tell me where you sourced this image from, please?
You point out the large number of bases the US has around the world but fail to point out that many of those bases have very few personnel, with some having as few as 5 persons. If the US puts 20 soldiers/airmen/sailors in a location to train other nations troops or to simply maintain ground base satellite reception station with 10 persons, they call it a base. Wherever they put personnel they call it a base, so for your viewer, let be clear there aren't 500 bases with army brigades in each of them. Many of the larger bases are often bases of the host country and may have hundreds or thousands of host country troops and have 30 or maybe 60 us personnel training or assisting them. Some locations are logistic sites simple transport and storage sites for material, for example lots of the material the US needs to help defend Europe are warehoused overseas with small security and logistic personnel detachments. You also make is seem like they are mostly hidden from the public which is not true. You mention Diego Garcia stating that we don't hear much about it, that is simple not the case. Some of the controversy regarding you mention about DG is true, but it has been public knowledge. I have known about DG since I was in my early teen as it has based various US bombers over the years and is a naval support facility since WWII. Just because "you" have not heard of something before does not mean it is hidden. The omissions and mischaracterizations of this video take away for its good points.
The whole video reeks of bias.
@@pyjobijecnorix5986 It’s well constructed but also so incredibly naive, like, who doesn’t know why the USA has these bases? It’s not hard to look at different maps or research their history to find out that the strategy behind them is pretty smart.
The US probably needs to clarify what is a 'military base', a 'logistica site', a 'lily pad', or just a place to train an allied unit because the amount of American bases all over the world is ridiculous. Not even America' massive budget is enough to fund all of these places.
Or maybe they shouldn't, the confusion might be the point. Basically its a feature, not a bug.
He titled the video as US base strategy not making sense but didn't at any point explain HOW
Its an interesting question. Power & Strength are an oxymoron as they are both deterrent yet invite challenge both by their shear existence.
They also bring bad conduct among their own troops, causing problems with locals.
vice versa as well. There have been incidents regarding US Marines and Japanese women, but there have also been European towns having massive economic benefit due to a Large US Base presence. Goes both ways with no cookie cutter scenario.
you could've just called it DARPA, a name that is more familiar to most.
While I don’t necessary agree with the tone of video (highly critical of the dominant US force around the globe, without mentioning that stability in these regions probably would exist without them) this is a well made vid and doesn’t lie.
hahahahaahaha Stability?> hahaaha Dude stop drinking alcohol. why are even trying? like who are you even trying to lie to?
You clearly have zero concept of world history beyond the last century.
@@joela.4058 No seriously. Like what stability has US bring?
@@r3dpowel796 Thanks to America, I didn’t die before reaching adulthood and didn’t die from a famine. The U.S has brought the world into an era of peace.
@@r3dpowel796 NATO. 70+ years of peace in Europe
You forgot our paratrooper corps. The force projection abilities to put a division inside enemy territory within 24 hrs has quite the chilling effect on nations looking to start trouble in their neighborhood.
The enemy territory part is a bit disputed do to enemy Air Defense.
But when the US conducts SEAD... there's a lot of hell that starts falling.
@@andyjacobs7010 the last I checked on our doctrines was to clear the way first with stealth craft to punch a whole in the AA control then use conventional bombing to down the platforms. This would also use dedicated aircraft to then clear out any mobile sites. But when rubber meets road airborne units operate with a much higher acceptable casualty rate before we are considered combat ineffective. It's why we do mass attacks on objectives that would otherwise need a smaller force. Once we are on the ground however, the numbers flip and we typically require less manpower to complete follow on missions due to our focus on individual initiative and violence of action.
@@nstyhl yup. I rewrote my last phrase a handful of times... unhappy with the ambiguity of the result.
In short, US SEAD and other bombing operations (amongst other things) can make quick work of a great many things. Note 1991 and 2003 with US succeeding immensely in major combat operations against Iraq.
It was getting good when it ended in the most important question
Great report. Surprised though you did not catch the recent accident of the Seawolf-class USS Connecticut when it hit a seamount spying in the South China Sea. Overall, I’m pretty disgusted at how our military-industrial complex and national security state suck us dry. While our infrastructure and social fabric decays they continue to build empire around the world, benefiting a small class at the expense of most.
Why would a Nuclear submarine be spying? Seems like we have better equipment to spy with than a sub, also last I checked it was China classic claiming Territory that isn't there's and building bases in the South China Sea
gorgeous editing
"new threats, like China and Russia"
Lol, I never thought I'd here those words all together. I get what he means though.
... uhm... reawakened threats?
Threats-the-US-hasnt-focused-on-in-two-decades.
@@andyjacobs7010 well yeah, but even I, who did not live through the Cold War have always know Russia and China were the biggest threats facing the US in a world Powers sense. They've always been lurking and plotting, even when they haven't been an active threat. Then the 2016 elections happened, and that's when most Americans should have stared to see them as an active threat once again.
The roles changed, today we should try to integrate Russia into Europes economy as well as into NATO asap to prevent further Chinese influence in the region.
It would be very possible if Russia's president wasn't a sociopathic self-centered prick.
The research in the video is so incredibly well done. I just just discovered this channel, but you definitely have a new subscriber
11:16 I was waiting for a segway to "But with this weeks sponsor, BlahBlah-VPN, YOU can access it on all your devices, for only 9.99$ per month"
The ground branch cia guys talk a lot about what they did in podcasts. They said it’s an extension of what the military does just in non permissive environments. They do a reconnaissance, village stability, personal security, hostage rescue as well and snatch and grabs and stuff
That curiosity stream plug was so smooth.
lesz gooooooooooooo OBF upload!!!!!
On the plus side, on Diego they make good pizza, have no shortage of beer and the beaches are spectacular!
Interestingly, whilst DG is occupied by circa 2000 US military, it is actually policed by British Police Officers! This makes for an amusing spectacle if things get out of hand.
Japanese Sniper.
Gotta show them who the real boss is once in a while 😂
If the US closed down all its overseas bases and kept its ships in port, would that increase global stability and security?
They demilitarized, didn’t expand military presence, and pursued isolationism during the 20 or so years between WWI and WWII.
They didn’t/haven’t pursued the same post-WWI policies and strategy over the past 75+ years following the end of WWII.
The US sort of filled in the void left by and supported its allies as their colonial empires fell away. Not to mention that post WWII deals with perhaps the most bilateral split of powers with the USSR.
Yes.
@@sp0ckz0mbi3 And on top of the benefit of the instantly-realized increase in stabilization that an action like this would result in, there would be no malign state or non-state actors that would seek to exploit the power vacuum created by the U.S. withdrawing all its influence (especially military) to within their boarders. There are no entities that would seek to subjugate and harm others if they were left unchecked. The U.S. only has its overseas presence to try to oppress as many of the world’s population as they can for their own monetary benefit and for no other reason. The world would essentially be liberated from the US’ obvious tyranny and subjugation with no negative direct, secondary or tertiary consequences, or unintended consequences.
That's a great idea. Close down all America's military bases, that sounds great. When have we heard that before? Oh yes, Afghanistan.
People wanted America to leave Afghanistan and now that they did, they're begging the US for money. Kinda hilarious really.
What's stopping Russia from invading Ukraine? What's stopping North Korea from invading South Korea? What's stopping China from invading Taiwan? What's preventing Iran and Saudi Arabia from duking it out in the Gulf?
We have already caught a glimpse of what would happen if the US leaves.
But then again, its not like that would affect America. Heck, global instability might actually be helpful for the US. This way, American companies would return to America instead of using cheap labor overseas. I mean, that was the norm before WW2. The wars in Europe and the relative stability in the US allowed America to grow its economy by taking advantage of European immigrants/cheap labor to grow its industries.
@@Based_Is_Best Your opinion is shared by the Afghan people until America left and now they're starving because of the Taliban takeover. At the moment, they're begging Americans to give them money(ungrateful bastards).
We've already seen the type of problems that can happen from an American withdrawal.
9:55 its funny, because Taiwans airzone literally covers parts of mainland China, I cant imagine that it wasnt drawn that way intentionally to manufacture "invaded our airspace" stories every couple of months.
Bases around China is the most sensitive topics. While US says it agrees with one China policy and agrees that PRC as the legitimate government, it made pact with Taiwan government. Which in first glance doesn't sound anything out of norm but if you look at that carefully makes you question the motive behind the action. The one China policy means Taiwan and mainland china are the same country. So china being there is the natural thing and US being there is unnatural thing. Now you may say, it's because taiwanese government made deal with US, so US army is there. Which is most mind boggling thing to me. If Puerto Rico made defense deal with China and China came with nuclear powered destroyers to the edge of Puerto Rico in name of support, will US feel threatened or not? If the nation has good relationship with US, having US base is in fact good for them because it acts as deterrent. But what about it's neighbor? Not everyone is happy with the US action. 911 happened. It was done by bin laden from Afghanistan and the one US launched attack on was Saddam Hussein in Iraq. Yes he was dictator, but had done nothing against US. That begs the motive behind the action of US because Hussein wasn't the only dictator in the world but he was supposedly making buffer zone for bin laden and his mother nation Saudi Arabia. If you start to untangle the action of US army, more webs starts to surface. So not all nations are as accepting as their neighbors on having US bases.
So here is my question, why does US wants to make army bases even when they know it will provoke the surrounding nations. If a rich person goes around it's neighborhood and starts putting CCTV cameras in neighborhood's houses by paying those poor families the offer they can't reject and pointing the cameras at anyone who won't accept the offer, do you think it's morally right thing to do?
My man it's not morals. It's called prompt global response and encirclement. It's a master stroke and something truly amazing tbh
You guys do great videos keep up the good work. Subscribed
Now they say Russia can't have their military in Russia😂
Literally no one ever fucking said that.
Russia is basically just like the USA in regards to international interventions aso. but significantly smaller & weaker.
@@Arcaryon indeed
i notice people like to use rimpac footage, thats not the US navy. thats just multiple nations together.
while yes the navy has that amount of ships, no that is not the standard carrier battle group
"Do these bases cause the wars they were created to prevent?"
Damn.
I guess some did. Haven't seen a war in the UK or the netherlands
Depending the region.
@@sw-reload9232 soon to be happen. Russia is ready for full scale invasion through out europe.
@@GoodLookingGentlemen Don't be silly.
@@GoodLookingGentlemen well the bases in europe did what they were supposed to do untill rusia invades
Instead of saying that the US military bases don’t make sense this was a well-mannered rant about the US military as a whole? This went a bit too much off the rails for my liking
I don't see an alternative to U.S. presence around the world that is any better. In fact, they all seem worse.
@KUMAR BOIS On Internet Did you let them know? Oh, they're still there? Like I said, there isn't a better alternative.
Huh? Seawolf class subs are always seen especially returning to their home port? Take the USS Jimmy Carter. And most nuclear submarine deployments from the UK to Russia are kept highly classified.
“ Doesn’t make sense “ Explains everything that they do like why and how it helps….
HIS PROCLIVITY TO EXPLORE IS THAT OF AN ANCIENT EXPLORER FROM A PRINCIPALITY, FROM CIRCA B.C.E. YET HIS TENDENCY OF BENEVOLENCE IS THAT OF AN ANCIENT EXPLORER FROM A MUNICIPALITY FROM CIRCA A.D.
NONETHELESS, SHALL YOUR CREATIVE PROWESS PROSPER, AND THE TIDES OF HISTORY ALWAYS IN YOUR FAVOUR.
*THE CIA WANTS TO KNOW YOUR LOCATION*
>"When it deployed it's military aircraft into Taiwan's air defense identification zone"
You should state that Taiwan's air defense identification zone is literally 3x the size of Taiwan and takes up 40% of China's Fujian and Zhejiang provinces. It's incredibly misleading.
Every time OBF uploads 🤤
They could probably either cut their bases in Africa quite a bit or cut their Europe presence to compensate, except that Africa is a tough place to maintain large forces for environmental, logistical, political, and medical reasons, and Europe is right there from which to project larger forces. Hence a lot of small, forward logistics sites. Not all that many significant operating forces. Even Canada forward deploys a lot of stuff all over the place, and we hardly have either any stuff or manpower, but what we do have we send all over the world at the end of what would be epic logistical chains without a bit of deployed help.
High quality video that is mostly useless because of how biased it is. I appreciate your content, but much expect better than this.
BTW, I'm not from the US or even a US-aligned country.
why Lily Pads?
"Fight the Enemy at their homeland, not ours"
Compare to the last thousand years of human history, i would say it's much much much much more peaceful.
for wealthy nations maybe ...the "developing" the world is on fire high unemployment, drug wars, military juntas propped up by the west, genocides ignored by the same western human rights champions, a literal ethnostate in Israel, endless ethnic conflicts in Africa with a jihadist insurgency in the Sahel killing tens of thousands due to NATO cratering Libya, Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, etc etc ....the world isn't much more peaceful the conflicts just have a different dimension compared to the naked imperialism of the past with thousands still dying in the crossfire
@@franzjoseph1837 So, what makes Israel an ethnostate.
As an aside, it would be interesting if anyone has statistics on "total violence related deaths and injuries" to compare overall percentages of different eras. Obviously this is to a degree an impossible task, but interesting to think about.
@@andyjacobs7010 bro they literally call themselves a Jewish state not just any state but one denoting their ethnicity.....European jews can come claim citizenship even if there family hasn't stepped a foot in Palestine for a three thousand years meanwhile palestinians who lived like 40 years ago cannot nor can I since I'm not Jewish. It is by definition a ethnostate in the Sam's sense australia was or Canada or the United States or Rhodesia .
@@franzjoseph1837 How is Canada an ethnostate?
This is a great video, but how did u get this information?
Amazing video and quality content. Did not know about lily pads.
When it comes to expansion, it's either the US or China/Russia. Although the US needs to be held more accountable for actions like relocation, I suppose the other superpowers are just as guilty. There's at least a small chance of accountability with the US unlike the others. UN sure won't do anything.
dont know what type of expansion youre pointing at - i dont knoe about russia but china has exactly 3 foregn military bases. Besides, on accountability, the us litterary has a law allowing the us military to invade the netherlands if an american citizen is to be tried at the hague
I'd rather have 10 US bases in my country than 1 Russian or Chinese.
Dude straight up called an eviction relocation.pfft
Not sure why you count subs as bases. They can't deploy troops (to my knowledge). They are mobile missle silos basically. Aircraft carriers can deploy forces tho.
Im from South Africa, this is very incorrect 🤣 you have literally spoken about maybe 10% of the bases in the whole of africa
He’s purposely leaving out shit to make the US seem like we have all the bases lmao. That africa map he used of bases was garbage
“You see here is a base that sinks on purpose also known as a submarine.”
Are you honestly going to make the case that southern Africa has no non-US military bases? :|
There is no foreign bases on US soil because there is no need for foreign bases on US soil. DOD installations in the US are developed enough that there is no need for a foreign country to build their own bases in the US. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t any foreign military presence in the US.
Go to any major and some minor military installation in the US and you’ll see foreign military personnel all the time.
An entire Battalion of British soldiers was just in Louisiana last summer.
Canadian troops are even literally permanently stationed in one of the most secretive USAF installation in Cheyenne mountain.
One time I literally saluted a Latvian and a Polish intel officer while leaving the dining facility, on my way back to the fire academy where the class that’s two weeks ahead of me has a Soldier from the Turkish Land Forces. When I was in fort Benning, I was too impatient because a whole platoon of British paratroopers were getting lunch at the post exchange so I went to the Burger King on post and I struck up a conversation with a Colombian soldier also in line to order.
The African Land forces summit literally just closed last week in Fort Benning.
I love your Channel
The Seawolf isn't the cool one. Jimmy Carter is the test platform and has a 100ft blacked out section.
Very interesting. I'm watching on a US overseas base. But you ignore most people want in these countries want us where we are. People are very friendly to me the moment they find out I am a member of the US Army.
Most people? Where is the research?
I'm sure they appreciate the fact that you're able to drone strike their neighbors, but that doesn't apply everywhere. Come to my country and you'll be told to fuck right off, respectfully.
lucky for me, i live in a country that does not get bombed by the US, but instead which supports the US spying on its neighbors, holding political prisoners on our land, and which supports the US in its effort to bomb other countries, so most people here would be very friendly with you.
PLEASE CORRECT!
The Chagos Archipelago is the territory of the Republic of Mauritius, by a ruling for tge International Court of Justice.
This is a big deal in Mauritius...please do the need full.
Talks about the seawolf-class submarines. No mention of the more than a dozen Ohio-class SSBNs that carries nearly up to 288 nuclear warheads.
There's an Australian TV Series called Pine Gap. It's pretty good. I'd recommend it if you're into black ops, government secrets etc.
Havent watched yet, but if isnt about how we surround enemy nations then im going to be moderated interested
Seawolfs are not often heared off because there are so few hulls compared to the "newer" Virginia class subs. Seawulf was designed for duking it out with USSR ship formations and has high endurance and weapon payload but was waaaay to expenceive to be build in large numbers with the end of the cold war. Also as a arsenal ship its not nesseraryly the best ship to operate in the costal reginas very close to china. plus US anti ship weapons fell of quite a bit compared to some other nations who keeps inovation going in teh face of countermesures that didnt existed or wasnt mature during the cold war.