Has the general forgotten what his predecessor did?

Gen David H Pitraeus was not only a highly decorated 4 star general in the US army but is a scholar, having obtained a Master in Public Administration and a PhD in International Relations from Princeton University, and has traveled to many countries. The long period of peace and prosperity in the world since World War II is because the US "adopted a foreign policy that sought to protect and, where possible, promote freedom abroad, along with human rights and rule of law". The general forgets the long history of US support for dictators, some of them like Augusto Pinochet, Francois Duvalier and Ferdinand Marcos were very unsavory characters. The success of the international order was due to America. "The extent of that success can be seen when we compare the first half of the 20th century with the second half of that century -- a period that witnessed the longest stretch without a great-power war in centuries; the most dramatic expansion of human prosperity in history; and the spread of democracy to every inhabited continent on the planet," he writes. This period was also the most dangerous in history, a tense standoff between the US and the Soviet Union, known as the Cold War, where war was impossible because of the doctrine of 'mutually assured destruction, with nuclear weapons. Just as absence of argument is not love, so absence of war is not real peace. But the world is changing. New revisionist powers, like China, Iran and Russia have emerged. "In particular, we see several countries -- including China, Iran and Russia -- now working to establish a kind of sphere of influence over their respective near-abroads, which include areas of vital strategic importance to the US, and where we have allies and partners to whom we are bound by shared interests and values," he writes. Trouble is that these allies include Turkey, a member of Nato and ruled by an authoritarian Erdogan, Saudi Arabia, which has been financing Sunni terrorism and Pakistan, which is still the training ground for all terrorists in the world. However, the continuing hostility to Russia is surprising. The cold war against the erstwhile Soviet Union was because it was a communist country, but today's Russia is a democracy. Flawed maybe, but still a democracy, unlike China which is a communist dictatorship. Russia was an ally during World War II and paid the highest price in casualties, 11 million soldiers killed or missing and 7-20 million civilians killed. Yet after the collapse of the Soviet Union the US and Europe did not come to Russia's aid. Pitraeus has forgotten how Gen Douglas MacArthur actively protected Emperor Hirohito from war crimes trial. Japan is a firm friend of the US to this day. The Marshall plan rebuilt Europe, including Germany, which staunchly supports the US. Those people had vision. Today's leaders are small minded and vilify Putin instead of taking the blame for missing the opportunity of making Russia a firm friend. China is the biggest danger. The US needs Russia.