A suggestive analogy may be to France during the long period of Anglo-American hegemony. Broadly speaking, France has been the “awkward partner” in the Anglo-American club – a role it played right up to its orchestration of opposition to the Iraq war in 2003.
如果俄国不能成为与美国(以及最终中国)分庭抗礼的独立的权力中心，那么它将会发挥什么作用呢？可以用在长久的英美霸权时期的法国做比方。大体上而言，法国是英美俱乐部中一个“尴尬的夥伴”，直到2003年的伊拉克战争，法国一直统领反对派。