In the good old days of cold war, America needs as many allies as possible, now that the cold war had long gone, does US still have to put tons after tons of greens in the combustion chamber so as to kiss buttocks everywhere? This alliance in question is particularly questionable when it comes to the European nations. Do we still share ideological similarities with them anymore? Most countries are moving fast and furious to the far, far left and had implemented collective mechanisms which had been previously impossible even in soviet Russia. Let an American conservative talk to an English conservative, a good chance you would find them end up with more to disagree than to agree and a even better chance the American conservative would mis-classify his/her chatter as a typical leftwing liberal. And America does not even trust her allies anymore(which is reasonable, given the circumstances), the phone being used by the supreme leader of Germany has been under constantly surveillance by US intelligence services. So, is it still necessary for America to have so many "little fellas" around the globe? Or is it time for us to realize that maybe it's not cold war anymore, and that America does not really need to be so "out-reaching" as well as "far-reaching"?
Without our airbases in Germany, Italy, etc. we have no way of supporting our operations in the Middle East. Without Menwith Hill in England, we have no intel collection sites or downlink locations for Africa, the Middle East, or Russia. Without Iceland and Britain, we have no access to the GIUK SOSUS line.
Which European countries have moved to the "far far left"? Speaking as a European I can't think of one; perhaps you can help me out. On the contrary I think you'll find that it is America which is generally aligning itself far more to the right, and those Americans who see Obama as far left-leaning might be surprised that we in Europe regard him as conservative.
