everyone who knows anything about foreign policy tells you there is an impact when the united states is led by someone who actively said we need to pull back or defend these people and where were they in the pelepenisian wars. they are before our time. we get your joke. thank you. the point being foreign policy like politics bores a vacuum so if there is space created in syria, in africa, if the united states is not playing as active a role, of course someone like putin will see andak opportunity. i also say, i was just on foreign policy today and all of the serious people talking about china. china is the true which is true in a sense, is the real global competitor, russia is poor and they don t have much money and this is a thuggish state but we underestimate the damage they could do by