> You can't be rich as a country without having the power to stay rich unless you are a little mountain region country or riding on the coat tails of a country that is.

Countries become rich because of stable, competent institutions, not because they can maintain a military empire.

Ireland, Singapore are both examples of this.

> You will need to protect your supply lines if you are an actor in a globalized world. So you have to become that country if you want to stay independent, and want to be supplied with the goods that you depend on.

Protect supply lines from whom? how are military bases in Turkey, Germany, Poland, etc protecting "supply lines"?

one of the most important supply lines for europe (hydrocarbons from russia) has been stifled for the past 4 years - why havent our bases or military been able to keep it open?

similarly, why are our numerous bases in Middle East failing to protect supply lines?

i would argue that in both those cases, our aggressive military expansion (nato, israel expansion + gulf bases) caused the closure of those critical supply lines.