@newt @sknvlv @adiz I'm not sure that I would consider that voluntary. I would sooner they weren't tied to us in that way and we weren't tied to them. Also, I think we had a defensive deal with france, mostly because of the germans invading... but it also included the communists. Then at some point, the US wanted to get involved in Europe and took over with NATO. But we did have similar fears, and in some ways contributed to making the situation worse. I don't know how much I would count fear-based decisions as voluntary... especially when it changes over time.