We may also discover why it was more advantageous for American military bases and folks to be stationed around the world as a big deterrence - it may be a real deterrence to having some of the host countries from having more grand ideas...
That's an excellent point, trebb, and reflects my original misgivings about broadly expanding NATO after the Soviet collapse. We are now allied with a host of tiny countries who brought their own deep (and some ancient) grievances into the broader alliance. The great danger is that one of these midgets might want to have its new treaty partner settle its old scores along the lines of "Let's you and him fight." And here we are...