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Say No to War: Thousands of Germans Demand Withdrawal of US, UK Troops

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Christoph Horstel, a government consultant and publicist from Germany, began collecting signatures against the presence of US and UK troops in Germany. The petition has gathered more than 40,000 signatures.

The people who have signed the petition are demanding the withdrawal of US and UK troops from Germany.

Overall 58,000 NATO soldiers are currently stationed in the country; that number includes 13,000 UK troops and 42,000 US soldiers.

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The petition says that such an excessive military presence from two particular NATO member states threatens Germany’s own security.

US troops were first placed in Germany after the Second World War to deter an invasion by the Soviet Union. Over the years their numbers have decreased.

Speaking to Sputnik in an exclusive interview, author of the petition Christoph Horstel explained why he feels foreign troops must withdraw from Germany.

“People in the past were not ready in large numbers to tell those troops to go home. Now there is a time when even the center of the bourgeois people in Germany have noticed that we have a crisis with Russia going on since the demise of the Soviet Union. This is the first time in 25 years that they know that something is going deeply wrong.”

He said that the authorities are not listening to them and he went on to explain why the German authorities are not listening to those who are calling for resistance against the government based on the German constitution.

“It is important that we get our rights. The US has forces in 156 countries with more than 800 bases. This is their habit. People protest because Germany doesn’t want to be involved in another armed conflict. More and more Germans are becoming aware that the US is using Germany’s Ramstein military base to indulge in wars abroad,” the author said.

Horstel further said that according to international law Germany, from the moment it launches bombers, immediately becomes a participant in whatever war the US is fighting elsewhere.

“The US is implementing aggressive military policies in 124 countries worldwide from Stuttgart in Germany, where they operate various commands such as AFRICOM and CENTCOM.”

He further spoke about how NATO has broken promises that were made and how it spends billions of dollars to destabilize Ukraine in order to get ever closer to Russia’s borders.

The petition calls for putting an end to NATO troops in Germany as the country does not want to be involved in any US-led wars abroad.

“The true interest of Germans and Europeans has changed. These countries want a strong Russia, a country that can contradict and challenge the US, otherwise we will all end up as slaves,” Horstel said.

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