>>Does this mean the general sentiment and overall strategy is changing at long last?
Times change. 70 years back there were only 2 major powers. Europe was recovering from the world wars, although bulk of their human capital was intact, lets face it, Europe more or less lost the leadership of the world.
Also at the same time, many big geographical areas and ancient cultures got their freedom from European colonial powers.
So it was in US's interest to prevent new competition from coming up on all fronts- Military, Economy, Education, Human resources etc etc. So they had to keep everyone in check. This works as long you keep producing top notch human capital forever. You can't do that, as its quite literally impossible. Then when you lose things one bit at a time, you also have to face the grim reality that you are better off minding your own business.
Its not easy to stop the whole worlds progress, to preserve your own. At least not forever.
Times change. 70 years back there were only 2 major powers. Europe was recovering from the world wars, although bulk of their human capital was intact, lets face it, Europe more or less lost the leadership of the world.
Also at the same time, many big geographical areas and ancient cultures got their freedom from European colonial powers.
So it was in US's interest to prevent new competition from coming up on all fronts- Military, Economy, Education, Human resources etc etc. So they had to keep everyone in check. This works as long you keep producing top notch human capital forever. You can't do that, as its quite literally impossible. Then when you lose things one bit at a time, you also have to face the grim reality that you are better off minding your own business.
Its not easy to stop the whole worlds progress, to preserve your own. At least not forever.