In the south of baghdad. In iraq, a war of choice, the us expended enormous amounts of blood and treasure and ended up opening the door to wider iranian influence, while causing the American Public to reject a role as the worlds policeman. And for those who yearn for that moment, now we see the consequences. Instead of a monopolar world or a two sided rivalry, like the old cold war, we have one where several large states contest for economic and strategic advantage, and where chaos is increasingly widespread. In ukraine, independent since the soviet collapse, they face an existential struggle. Inter state war has returned to europe. Hundreds of thousands have been killed or wounded. Russia animated by nationalism, rather than communism gambled on western indifference and weakness. Well, we havent been here long, but were getting a good idea about the constant rockets and defensive fire from the israeli iron dome system. In the middle east, one of the few constants of these past 35 year