Just a couple of questions if I may, Pete. Can I call you Pete?
Sure.
Why would Germany want to drop a nuclear bomb on London/UK? What would they hope to achieve?
What did Germany hope to achieve by bombing London during the Blitz in WW2? A military victory.
The point is, with nukes, Germany could beat us; without nukes, they've no chance.
Why do we need to keep troops in Germany (at great expense when money is sort), when the Cold War ended 20 years ago and WW2 ended 70 years ago, and nothing sinister has happened since?
You don't deploy military forces to defend against what has happened, but to defend against what could happen.
We use our troops in Germany in co-operation with German NATO-loyalists, to enforce Germany's current non-nuclear constitution; it's a non-nuclear constitution because we, the Allies who beat Germany in WW2, insisted on that.
On the question of "at great expense". Well it should not have to be all that expensive. Please re-read this -
I expect that one of the main reasons the UK wants to withdraw from our German bases is cost. Apparently, since reunification we've had to pay rent for our bases, as have the Americans. So I was told.
Well if it is an unfair rent (and it sounds like it if it is too expensive to afford) maybe Germany are putting the rent up so much because they are trying to evict us?
Anyway, we should be getting our bases rent free since the Allies, well the USA to be specific, gave Germany a huge amount of money via the Marshall fund for German reconstruction.
The Germans owe Britain plenty if we need to offset the rent for our bases in Germany because of the cost in lives and treasure Germany cost Britain by their aggression in Europe which forced us to fight them in 2 world wars.
The non-German NATO countries need to insist on no rent, token rent or, at the most generous, affordable rents.
Why would the fact that having British troops in Germany, prevent them from arming themselves with nuclear weapons? Why wait until the British troops leave?
Our forces, in cooperation with NATO loyalist German forces would arrest any German persons engaged in political, engineering or military activity with a view to Germany gaining nuclear-weapons.
Specifically non-German NATO troops would be used in case of attempts to resist the appropriate arrests by disloyal German units if any emerged.
Why does NATO need to get involved?
It is the Western security organisation which includes all the key players, Germany, the UK, other European countries, the North Americans. It's the one organisation with a military command which can over-rule the German military inside Germany with a minimum of fuss.
You do realise that there will still be US military bases in Germany?
Yes but we shouldn't hang the entire work-load of European security on the Americans. They've got plenty of other concerns. We need to pull our own weight, help them out. With the French abandoning their bases inside Germany it's only really us Britons there in significant numbers now, apart from the Americans.
The US is also closing bases
Well the US ought to keep a big enough in military presence to fulfill its part in the wider NATO constitutional over-watch role enforcing Germany's non-nuclear-weapons-power status.
- should the US expect to be bombed by Germany as well?
Germany has been at war with the US and could be again I suppose. One never knows how matters will develop into the far future.
One ought to prepare contingency plans for the unexpected scenarios as well as the expected scenarios. Ignoring possible dangers, not planning ahead, is one sure way to invite trouble.