"In George Orwell's dystopian novel 1984, the world is divided into three spheres of influence: Oceania, Eurasia, and Eastasia, all perpetually at war. Sometimes two of the states form an alliance against the third. Sometimes they abruptly switch sides. No reasons are given. Instead, the Party tells the proles, "We have always been at war with Eastasia." Newspapers and history books are quickly rewritten to make that seem true."
"Back in 2019, Fiona Hill, a National Security Council official in the first Trump administration, testified to a House committee that Russians pushing the creation of spheres of influence had been offering to somehow "swap" Venezuela, their closest ally in Latin America, for Ukraine. Since then, the notion that international relations should promote great-power dominance, not universal values or networks of allies, has spread from Moscow to Washington."
A dystopian depiction presents three rival spheres locked in perpetual war, with alliances shifting and official narratives rewritten to align with ruling power. Contemporary proponents advocate dividing the real world into three great‑power zones: Asia dominated by China, Europe dominated by Russia, and the Western Hemisphere dominated by the United States. Russian actors promote these spheres to regain influence over their "near abroad" and have reportedly offered to "swap" regional allies such as Venezuela for Ukraine. The approach privileges great‑power dominance over universal values and allied networks, while some security strategies emphasize hemispheric control and challenge allied sovereignties.
Read at The Atlantic
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