The US entered a calamitous war in Iraq, missed more than one opportunity to engage Iran's revolutionary regime, pushed for unending expansion of NATO onto the doorstep of Russia, and haughtily ignored Russia’s protests against the deployment of missile defenses in Eastern Europe. Under the cover of the “war on terror,” the US played into Russia’s fear of encirclement through its military penetration into Central Asian countries such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Tajikistan.