I believe most of these situations get resolved diplomatically. That doesn't work with IS, but the vast majority of cases are criminal rather than terrorists, o

I believe most of these situations get resolved diplomatically. That doesn't work with IS, but the vast majority of cases are criminal rather than terrorists, or the result of general instability. A country like Luxembourg can usually find someone who has their money in their banks and is in a position to resolve the situation. There's also quite a lot of European solidarity in such cases. Mass evacuations usually get several governments involved and they all contribute proportionally, or France sends a few planes and basks in the glory. Regarding military operations to solve such situations it seems to me as if it's a matter not just of capability but of willingness as well. Europeans tend to think 50 cents to the foreign ministry is a better investment than $1 to the military, and that approach carries over in crisis. Empirically, my impression is that military action has about a 33/33/33% rate of success/dead hostages/"we just scared a grandma and couldn't find any hostages". Diplomacy has a higher success rate but it can take years. That's the sort of trade-off I don't envy politicians for.