From the Great Game to the Cold War, peripheral conflicts once defined great power rivalry. Today they increasingly signal strategic decline World politics is ceasing to resemble a sporting contest. Instead, it’s becoming something colder and harsher as a kind of race for survival. And in such a contest, it will not be the most brilliant who endure, but those who know how to allocate their resources wisely. The reckless expenditure of military and political capital on peripheral objectives, or