Look around the elections that have taken place over the past 2 years in the EU. U.S. friendly governments have been elected recently in several places for the first time in decades (even France of all places
). Our "new friends" get rewards negotiated behind the scenes that have nothing to do with "lowest bid" and everything to do with diplomacy.
Truth be told it would scare the living shit out of most of us if we knew the diplomatic and national security issues that make some of our decisions for us. In some ways it is the same as when the Stealth Bombers were "unveiled" to the world. They had been in the air and mission ready long before then, but their "unveiling" didn't take place until the next generation replacement aircraft was already flying... We haven't seen them yet, and we wont until their replacements are in service...