Sixth footnote to the post titled “The Virtues of Anarchy”

In a way, the spheres of influence of the three major powers are clear and self-evident. For America, it’s the Western Hemisphere and Western Europe. For Russia, it’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia. And for China, it’s Southeast Asia and Northeast Asia. But how do you carve out the Middle East and Afghanistan? Especially when the Middle East and Afghanistan are the main prize of major power competition? The inability of the major powers to carve out the Middle East and Afghanistan in a consensual manner make this particular region of the world the most unstable and volatile in the whole world. There is still a push and pull, or a tug of war, between the major powers over this particular region of the world which has yet to be resolved. Nor does a resolution seem likely in the near future.