A nation projects their power through Diplomatic, Information, Military and Economic (DIME) means. Every major world event probably has at least 3-4 major world powers attempting manipulate the outcome in their favor.

The war in Iraq and Syria against ISIL is probably the mother of all proxy wars. There are over 13 different people groups involved in ground combat, each with their individual agendas. And each group is backed by up to several major world powers such as US, NATO, GCC states, Turkey, Israel, Iran, Russia, China, etc. To think that the US is the only one testing the lines to brink of a major war is rather naive. Just something to consider.