Countries join alliances, or entities such as the European Union, because these groups make the benefits and obligations of membership as unambiguous as anything in international relations can be. For Germany and South Korea, however, relationships with historic allies – NATO and the United States, respectively – appear to be changing before our eyes.
国家加入联盟或欧盟这样的实体，因为组成这样的集团能让成员获得明确的好处和义务，这是任何国际关系都无法与之媲美的。但是，对德国和韩国来说，与其历史盟友——分别是北约和美国——的关系似乎正在我们眼皮底下发生改变。