Originally Posted by gloopy

Call their bluff then. If they do that for the USA, they lose their one and only eternal babysitter and they would have to provide for their own defense. Why do that when the world's reserve force (us) will do that for them forever and ever?

If we call their bluff and they don't blink, then we stop babysitting that corner of the world with our multi-trillion dollar mega-Marshall plan borrowed from fickle allies and borderline enemies alike. Our current trajectory is unsustainable enough as it is without giving away the store to Emirates for their little delusional rich kids playing with airplanes in the sandbox fantasy. That whole region is full of Branson wanna be's. The last thing we need to do is let them play in our backyard too because they play dirty with the money we pay them in the first place.