The obituary of the American century has been written, but there are very good reasons to believe that the USA will continue to play a dominant role in the 21stcentury. America’s continued dominance is based on its ability to project both hard and soft power.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s covert aggression in Ukraine continues – and so do Western sanctions against his country. But the economy is not all that is under threat; Russia’s soft power is dwindling, with potentially devastating results.

What is power today? Who has it, and who will prevail? Right now, 19th-century hard power is confronting 21st-century soft power. Although hard power appears to have the edge, don’t write off the soft power, and especially economic might.

In this aspect the US ‘smart power’ strategy in its relationship with Pakistan is very important to understand. Pakistan is arguably the litmus test to evaluate if the new US agenda is moving in right direction.

Russia under President Vladimir Putin doesn't rely much on soft power to get its way abroad, in the same way it doesn't do much liberal democracy at home. It does, however, do manipulation, and Europe is only just waking up to how much and how well.

 As General Myers, the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has observed, “every dollar spent on the soft power of ideas is worth 100 in hard power.”(...) In the years ahead, no matter who controls the White House or Congress, our nation must focus more of our efforts on soft power.

It's a shift in the administration’s approach to an offensive already under way in Iraq and Syria.

Russian “soft power” aimed at promoting the country’s image abroad is working and President Vladimir Putin is its key element, a report presented by the Center for Political Analysis at TASS on Friday says.