[Zigurd]

That is a remarkable interpretation of what, in reality, is a situation where the US demands tribute in the form of onerous intelligence tie-ups that lost their purpose when the Soviet Union dissolved and treaties that spread bad US IP laws to places that have no desire to be screwed up that way.

We now pimp the "Global War on Terror" as a substitute, but some guys in caves with a few kilos of explosives just isn't as compelling as an industrial superpower with h-bombs.