> Let the Europeans deal with the Middle East since it is their backyard and not ours. You have to admit there's two sides to that, though. The fact that the E

> Let the Europeans deal with the Middle East since it is their backyard and not ours. You have to admit there's two sides to that, though. The fact that the EU doesn't _have_ to defend itself reduces the incentive to do so. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if we were to learn that the USA (pre-Trump) lobbies EU countries to keep their defense budget low, as that maintains dependence of EU on the USA. But I 100% agree with you. Pull USA influence out of Europe - that's the best way to force Europe to take its self-defense seriously.