A strategy would have to explain why regional conflicts, which have been a constant in human activity for millennia, are suddenly a major security problem. And it would have to explain which instruments of U.S. power and influence might be used to convince others to work with the United States on such crusades. It would also have to address the criteria for working with nations that violated the national security strategy’s other goals of “human dignity,” “free trade,” “democracy,” and “freedom.”
