It is a matter of profound irritation to the U.S. that countries around the world will not play the roles that Washington has designated for them in its game of global geopolitical chess, but it only has itself to blame. For much of the time since the end of the Second World War, the U.S.’s principal opponent in the game was Russia, and both sides took an uncompromising view on how to deal with countries that were not aligned with them. Over the past 20 years or so the game has changed for two key reasons. First, the hard-power approach of…
