Introduction
During the Cold War era, global powers engaged in multifaceted confrontations in various locations, spanning from Korea and Vietnam to Cuba and Afghanistan. In the Afghan conflict, the U.S. and its allies backed insurgents against the Soviet intervention, while in Vietnam and Cuba, the Soviet Union supported forces resisting the American involvement. In Korea, the Soviet Union extended its support to North Korea and China, countering the efforts of the U.S. and its allies, who sent troops to the South against the Chinese intervention. Since the Cold War ended with the West’s supremacy and the emergence of the U.S. as the sole superpower, no such confrontations occurred in the 1990s and 2000s. The U.S.-led military intervention in Serbia in 1995 and 1999, or against Iraq in 1991 and 2003, unfolded without the involvement of any major power to challenge it. On the other hand, the U.S. and its allies did not take any steps to stop Russia’s military intervention in Georgia in 2008, as Russia had been gaining power since the mid-2000s, following Vladimir Putin’s assumption of the presidency.
