> It does matter, because it means Washington has tangible leverage over these supposedly-sovereign states In case that someone is genuinely confused: Poland p

> It does matter, because it means Washington has tangible leverage over these supposedly-sovereign states In case that someone is genuinely confused: Poland put quite significant effort into using far-away and much more reasonable and friendly USA to decrease risk of invasion of nearby, brutal and evil Russia. Main leverage that USA has in Poland is risk of *withdrawing* military support. Because getting invaded by Russia is extremely bad, war worse than average invasion results.