Because they aren't there any more! What air assets we have left are mostly committed to Afghanistan and Iraq. In 1974 during the Cyprus civil war, we pulled out in 3 days some 20,000 people from Kingsfield and Akrotiri, some dressed only in swimming costumes and the blankets they had been given. In 1982, we we able to retake Britsh territories some 6,000 miles away. I have a friend who was evacuated twice by the military from Aden some 25 odd years ago. Never again, those days are long gone. The one RN warship available in the Med diverted to Libya is on its way to the scrapyard. These latest defence cuts coupled with the utter spinelesseness and lack of leadership within the FCO, will ensure that, if you are an expat working in foreign lands, you really are on your own.