American influence in the world is certainly considerable, but the United States does not control, directly or indirectly, the politics and economics of other societies, as empires have always done, save for a few special cases that turn out to be the exceptions that prove the rule.

The United States contributes to peace in both by serving as a buffer between and among regional powers that, while not preparing for armed conflict, do not fully trust one another.

American foreign policy, for all its shortcomings, has underpinned political stability around the world.

All policy is a matter of gains and losses, upsides and downsides.

The United States doesn't do what it does in the world for altruistic reasons. Nobody set out to be the world's government.

After all, the past is our only real guide to the future, and historical analogies are instruments for distilling and organizing the past and converting it to a map by which we can navigate.

Football is controlled violence, but it is violence, which people have loved to watch since the gladiatorial contests in ancient Rome.