[Tyrek]

Sure the "principled high road" has meaning. Coming out of the 90's, the US had a dominant position in international institutions and a 'vibe' that it was willing to subordinate its interests in favor of the global community. The post GWOT shift to a 'selfish' position, clearly illustrated here by your argument, reflects the absolute cratering of international public opinion, and frankly the collective loss of trust in a less selfish America.

[mikkupikku]

With the fall of the Soviet Union and apparent end of the Cold War, many people came to believe that we were at "The End of History", beginning a new era in which major conflicts were a thing of the past, and with that, strategic considerations were seen as a dated anachronism. Future conflicts were anticipated to be small "police" actions, with America filling in not just the role of world police, but also judge, jury and executioner of any country that had a problem with it. Simultaneously, there was obviously a lot of opportunity to loot the former Soviet states, and what better framework for organizing and legitimizing that looting than the "Rules Based International Order", defined and enforced by America, which would disarm any opposition to this looting by framing the looting as economic liberalization.

So the 90s vibe you speak of was in fact America imposing a global hegemonic order which was calculated to benifit, if not American interests, then certainly the interests of the western oligarchs who were aligned with America.