Originally Posted by
SASless
Had Truman decided to send troops to Korea instead of Europe as he did....perhaps history might have turned out a bit differently as NATO sans American Troops might not have been able to deal with Russia while the United States was engaged in a full fledge announced War with China.
It was a near thing as Truman had plenty of people wanting the Nationalist Chinese engaged in the Korean War by invading Mainland China thus assisting the United States and UN troops deal with the North Koreans and Chinese forces in Korea but Truman felt the Chinese were all but fully committed already and ultimately saw the Russians as the greater communist threat and that China was being contained by the Korean fighting. Sending American troops to Europe was seen as much a deterrent to Russia invading Japanese territory as much as it was beefing up NATO against a Russian attack by requiring Russia to keep major units in the west rather than moving them east where they could threaten Japan.
There is a fear that the US may have retreated too far from Europe and NATO
Politics has been very complicated since 1945 - Britain retreating from the 'Empire' and the US and Russia missing out on filling the vacuum of all the old colonials
It has been in the interest of the US not to actually have a WW III - fighting the Russians through third parties and in countries other than the US
Looking both East and West comes at a price - but that is the role the US has chosen for its self
Long may that continue