As the Cold War took global grip, the United States purposefully pushed Britain aside. The U.S. took over its military bases, its spheres of influence, and its markets. Conscious of its decline, London clung, slightly pathetically, to what it termed its "special relationship" with Washington. 

It is also perhaps a demonstration of Obama’s very challenging efforts to establish an “equilibrium” between Shia and Sunni forces throughout the Middle East region, especially in the Gulf. Obama explicitly made such equilibrium a strategic aim in the region in his famous interview with The New Yorker’s David Remnick 14 months ago.

Beijing has spent several years trying to persuade Western nations to join its Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), which will soon open its doors and begin handing out billions of dollars in development loans to fund roads, ports, water and sanitation systems, and telecom projects across Asia. 

That’s the case some Democrats are making, complaining that GOP lawmakers are eroding U.S. soft-power overseas by refusing to back the key international institutions where the U.S. has long exercised intellectual, political and economic leverage.

Obama's comments at the White House did little to repair rocky U.S.-Israeli relations, which were aggravated by a Wall Street Journal report Tuesday alleging Israel spied on sensitive negotiations about Iran's nuclear program. 

The Obama administration has broadcast that since Benjamin Netanyahu announcedthat there will never be a Palestinian state so long as Netanyahu remains Prime Minister of Israel, the U.S. may end its policy of blocking consideration of the Israel-Palestine conflict at the United Nations Security Council.

The issue is an important one, because in September the United Nations will likely endorse a new set of Sustainable Development Goals to "end poverty, transform all lives, and protect the planet" by 2030. Among the 17 broad and ambitious goals are ending hunger, ensuring healthy lives, achieving gender equality and providing access to justice for all.