Let the hand-wringing begin!
The Globe and Mail today offers an opinion piece (presented as "news") by New York Time's Berlin bureau chief Katrin Bennhold warning that removing any US troops from Germany is "hurting NATO and playing directly into the hands of Russian President Vladimir Putin..."
Not addressed is the question of why US troops continue to occupy Germany at all? Thirty years after the fall of the wall and twenty-five years after the last Russian forces left the country, what's the logic of keeping tens of thousands of US soldiers on German soil?
Bennhold cites a couple of experts from a couple of US think tanks who predictably warn that the American presence deters Russian aggression. Oddly enough, that's the same predictable argument Pentagon cheerleaders always trot out when fear-mongering for more military spending.
Yup, German democracy is a quite delicate flower, and Bad Vlad can hardly wait to stomp it into the ground. American soldiers are the essential guarantors of freedom and democracy in the country, without whom really awful stuff could happen... just look at Crimea. (Or perhaps let's not, because the former province of Ukraine is substantially more prosperous than the country it voted to leave after the US sponsored coup.)
The article also fails to mention that German public opinion is solidly in favour of better relations with Russia.
It's not 1945 any more. The Yanks should butt out of European affairs and look after their own business, of which they have plenty to attend to.
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