Politico: Putin's Long Game

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

One problem with that piece as I see it is that it takes as a given that it is in America's own interest to be the policeman of the world.  While it certainly is in the interest of the EU that we continue to shoulder an outsided burden, I do think it is time to consider refactoring NATO, largely by making it live up to it's name and dropping most of the Southern European countries from the alliance, with the exception of Span and Portugal.  The only reason to continue a US military presence in Southern Europe is to serve as a staging area into the Middle East and right now, there is no particular realpolitik rationale for staying involved in that area.  Pulling back to a NATO core (including Poland and the Baltic states), South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, Australia, and of course the Americas would both save us money and more importantly signal we're not going to play policeman of the world any longer.

The only negative I see of such a strategy is whether it is sustainable or would it lead to additional cutbacks that would make us more vulnerable to actual threats to the homeland.