Europe is full of US military bases, which although intelligence requests are approached through a veneer of "assisting allies," does come with a certain amount

Europe is full of US military bases, which although intelligence requests are approached through a veneer of "assisting allies," does come with a certain amount of implied threat when you enter the dark realm of realpolitik. Heck, for half a century Operation Gladio and its NATO-wide equivalents reduced several European governments to puppet states through a campaign of terror, all in the pursuit of US interests.