As a German, I'm so fucking ashamed watching all of our neighbors close their airspace to the US military, while we host them inside our country, watching them take off to bomb schools and civilian infrastructure, then come back and have a beer at the local bar.
this post was submitted on 02 Apr 2026
234 points (100.0% liked)
Europe
10826 readers
674 users here now
News and information from Europe 🇪🇺
(Current banner: La Mancha, Spain. Feel free to post submissions for banner images.)
Rules (2024-08-30)
- This is an English-language community. Comments should be in English. Posts can link to non-English news sources when providing a full-text translation in the post description. Automated translations are fine, as long as they don't overly distort the content.
- No links to misinformation or commercial advertising. When you post outdated/historic articles, add the year of publication to the post title. Infographics must include a source and a year of creation; if possible, also provide a link to the source.
- Be kind to each other, and argue in good faith. Don't post direct insults nor disrespectful and condescending comments. Don't troll nor incite hatred. Don't look for novel argumentation strategies at Wikipedia's List of fallacies.
- No bigotry, sexism, racism, antisemitism, islamophobia, dehumanization of minorities, or glorification of National Socialism. We follow German law; don't question the statehood of Israel.
- Be the signal, not the noise: Strive to post insightful comments. Add "/s" when you're being sarcastic (and don't use it to break rule no. 3).
- If you link to paywalled information, please provide also a link to a freely available archived version. Alternatively, try to find a different source.
- Light-hearted content, memes, and posts about your European everyday belong in other communities.
- Don't evade bans. If we notice ban evasion, that will result in a permanent ban for all the accounts we can associate with you.
- No posts linking to speculative reporting about ongoing events with unclear backgrounds. Please wait at least 12 hours. (E.g., do not post breathless reporting on an ongoing terror attack.)
- Always provide context with posts: Don't post uncontextualized images or videos, and don't start discussions without giving some context first.
(This list may get expanded as necessary.)
Posts that link to the following sources will be removed
- on any topic: Al Mayadeen, brusselssignal:eu, citjourno:com, europesays:com, Breitbart, Daily Caller, Fox, GB News, geo-trends:eu, news-pravda:com, OAN, RT, sociable:co, any AI slop sites (when in doubt please look for a credible imprint/about page), change:org (for privacy reasons), archive:is,ph,today (their JS DDoS websites)
- on Middle-East topics: Al Jazeera
- on Hungary: Euronews
Unless they're the only sources, please also avoid The Sun, Daily Mail, any "thinktank" type organization, and non-Lemmy social media (incl. Substack). Don't link to Twitter directly, instead use xcancel.com. For Reddit, use old:reddit:com
(Lists may get expanded as necessary.)
Ban lengths, etc.
We will use some leeway to decide whether to remove a comment.
If need be, there are also bans: 3 days for lighter offenses, 7 or 14 days for bigger offenses, and permanent bans for people who don't show any willingness to participate productively. If we think the ban reason is obvious, we may not specifically write to you.
If you want to protest a removal or ban, feel free to write privately to the admin that applied the rule (check modlog first to find who was it.)
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
Yeah, something needs to be done here. It's not acceptable that airbases in our country are used for illegal wars.
Fuck the constitution, I guess...
Can't a private citizen or a rights defense group sue for unconstitutionality of the usage of bases?
Even a non-citizen can. In 2012 two men from Jemen sued the German federal government over drone strikes that had killed their family and were controlled from Ramstein air base in Germany.
Last year, the German constitutional court ruled that basically, it didn't violate the German constitution because the US didn't systematically violate international law since they at least tried to limit the drone strikes to legitimate military targets.
The ruling was limited to that specific attack. So someone would have to sue again in regards to the war on Iran, and likely receive a ruling on it some time around the year 2040.
That's actually insane that that is in the constitution with what's happening
I am regularly in Kaiserslautern and seeing all the transport planes landing every couple of minutes has a huge gschmäckle
Have you tried telling them to go fuck themselves, have you encouraged others to do so?
German govt, this and previous govt, all of the leaders are complicit in genocide and should be prosecuted in German courts. That nazi Annalena Baerbock from the Green-washing party literally said it is justified to murder Palestinian children while spreading misinformation about rape and beheadings.
Merz is a fascist.
As much as I'd like to assume these things happened out of conviction, they might just be free bargaining chips for the next clash with the orange moron. After all, reopening your airspace to American planes comes at zero cost and may at the same time convince him that he has "won" something.
Either way: it's good to see this become a phenomenon.
Who knows. Could be pressure from Iran. “Block your airspace and we’ll let some of your ships pass…” or something.
Either way. Good for everyone doing it regardless of the reason.
I don't think Austria has any oil tankers.
Extrapolate. The ships that deliver to the refineries that supply your energy.
Seems more symbolic, I haven't seen any US military aircraft flying over Austria since this war has started, probably because Austria isn't a NATO member. The corridor used by the USA in the last few weeks looks like this
Now if only the Chzech Republic and Poland did the same... But I'm afraid that's whistfull thinking.
If Germany and Poland closed their airspace to the USA then there are no routes for them via North or Baltic Sea.
Germany sadly won't close its airspace as long as Merz is chancellor.
Yeah, I don't expect that he'll do anything, even though he should.
Oh my god, they're once not using "neutrality" to weasel out of responsibility? They may have actually found their spine.
There is neutrality and then there's turning a blind eye to an aggressor. Previously, they have done the latter. Their Chancellor has even openly stated that if an EU country were to be attacked, they would do the absolute minimum that EU law allows.
This is a genuinely positive change.
if an EU country were to be attacked, they would do the absolute minimum that EU law allows.
The minimum the EU law allows is everything, though:
Very good, please keep this up in all countries where applicable
I stand with Austria and every other country that will denie permission to USA.
Good.
Given that US military decisions are apparently being made spontaneously by an incoherent man's feelings, this makes a lot of sense.