Obviously these nations have to “remind” the US that they are there for geopolitical reasons. Take Poland for example, which has absolutely no interest in Iraq except for what it gets from the US for being there. The problem is if you align your foreign policy too close to the bigger partner you risk not having an FP of your own. Thus Canada opted out of Iraq, saying it didn’t have enough troops to spare, but reminding them we are fighting “shoulder to shoulder” in the ‘Ghan, which has brought enough benefits in itself.

There are a lot of pundits in Canada (Granatstein, Bland) that say we should align even closer to the US. Some think we need to separate more. The current PM would probably have sent troops to Iraq. It is a tricky balancing act when you are in an unequal partnership (ie. we depend on the US more than they depend on us).

Energy security is one of the dynamics now driving the US military. In fact last year the US tried to convince other members of NATO to use their collective military force to protect the energy needs of alliance countries. However few were interested, making their own arrangements with suppliers; NATO member Turkey, for example, is trading for Iranian energy against the wishes of the US, an example that could tempt more countries to follow suit.

Moreover the alliance is being challenged in Asia by the CSTO. Will NATO fall apart, resulting in the US teaming up with China, militarily, for energy security – as China wants to encourage?

Also, I think the whole “quality vs quantity” argument you’re citing is bogus and this is the first place I’ve seen it. The Canadians have had a very high quality of training for decades and have always performed well next to American or British troops. One argument you’ve ignored is that while the quantity of Canadian troops have declined as a result of spending cuts, Canada’s military industrial base has declined significantly due to the same cuts and their military is being forced to use equipment so antiquated that combined force operations with the United States are becoming more and more difficult to do. To a large extent, you can find the United States supplying Canada and its European allies with newer, high-tech equipment at the USA’s expense because the EU and Canada simply won’t spend the money to modernize. It’s a shame.

Sure. Plenty of Roman allies in Italy, southern Gaul, Spain, the Greek city states, and even Egypt tried alliances in some way or form for a while. It temporarily worked, but all eventually became vassals and were swallowed or conquered, becoming officially administrated Roman territories. It’s also interesting to note that token alliances from neighboring weak states were eventually abandoned in favor of mercenaries.