I just mean US deterrence in general, the effect of the end of the Cold War and the demise of the Soviet Union; not the result of any specific program of deterrence so much as just not being anyone out there willing to risk conflict with the US as they do their own Cost-Risk/benefit analysis.
Call it "hegemony" if you will. I think we had about 4-5 years at the end of WWII; and another longer period post Soviet collapse that is probably already over. I point this out to people (not you I suspect) who have bought into the wild idea that the future is all about Irregular Warfare and that major state on state warfare is largely obsolete. My personal opinion is that there are a lot of unresolved issues that have been temporarily set on hold or "frozen" due to US hegemony that will become increasingly active and violent if need be.
I think Central Asia, with its underdeveloped resources, and sitting between a lot of more powerful, resource hungry neighbors is a likely place for conflict. One that I agree we should stay completely out of.
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