Yes, we are going to miss out. Sadly, the United States has never “done” international realpolitik particularly well. Our totally erroneous view that the Western Hemisphere is still ordered as we wish by “the Monroe Doctrine” actually ended in 1962 when JFK backed down to the Russians and allowed them to maintain a substantial prsence in Cuba. And God forbid that we offend a small but vocal voting block in southern Florida or admit that maybe– just maybe– one of the basic tenets of our strategy has been wrong. “Missed opportunites,” continues to be our leitmotif regardless of who occupies the White House and Congressional leadership.