At a defense conference in Munich, I saw him diagnose and confront Russian hegemony. ~David Brooks

I have no idea what the phrase Russian hegemony means in a world where our sphere of influence supposedly extends to Tshkinvali and Baghdad.  In a time when we have military bases in, military alliances with or military advisors for almost every country on Russia’s borders, talking about Russian hegemony is like talking about Zimbabwean wealth, Bolivian capitalism, Burmese freedom or Chinese democracy.  It is meaningless.  Of what is Russia the hegemon?  The SCO?  That is scary.  If we’re not careful, we might lose Nepal to their nefarious schemes.  In other words, in a column that is supposed to be praising McCain’s insights, Brooks draws attention to a principal example of a subject McCain does not understand and, worse yet, he doesn’t know that he doesn’t understand it.