>>What do those nations (Spain, Greece, Switzerland) all have in common? I'm pretty sure the U.S. has at least one military base in each country.
>>I have tried to avoid geographic boundaries in this discussion, but there is a context here that's not unlike the 600 lb elephant in the room.
OK. for interest, where is/are the base/s in Switzerland?
"... They ne'er cared for us
yet: suffer us to famish, and their store-houses
crammed with grain; make edicts for usury, to
support usurers; repeal daily any wholesome act
established against the rich, and provide more
piercing statutes daily, to chain up and restrain
the poor. If the wars eat us not up, they will; and
there's all the love they bear us."
-- Shakespeare: Coriolanus, Act 1, scene 1