Not to nitpick, but it was US-EU-satellite, France falls into the second group not the satellite group. A better example might be Montenegro, or even Moldova, G

Not to nitpick, but it was US-EU-satellite, France falls into the second group not the satellite group. A better example might be Montenegro, or even Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine which have all chosen to head towards the EU (at varying speeds). Australia, NZ, Japan, and South Korea are potentially better examples of direct US satellites. They still have plenty of sovereignty, and their own cultures, but would I suspect, end up in difficult place if US vanished in the blink of an Eye. A lot, but not all, of it is shared values around democracy. In a lot of ways the US doesn't actually lead this at all. It's the biggest player on the block, sure, but not the best example.