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This reaffirms my belief that the US chasing Snowden is a bad idea solely because it demonstrates the lack of soft & hard power the US has on the international stage these days.

While people may not notice this small act I feel it's kinda what the US deserves in this instance.

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America has spent too much hard power to have that much soft power left.

Agreed, although they're not mutually exclusive. Just happens the way America has exercised it's hard power has diminished its soft power. We've been a hammer since World War II but nobody else has even been using nails.

I recall there were quite a lot of nails in postwar USSR.

Fair. I guess my statement was way too generalized, but was meant to be reflective about a slower shift over time. There's still nails around today but also many other moving parts & sometimes it feels like the approach hasn't fully adapted.

They're not mutually exclusive, but soft power relies on having the appearance of not needing your hard power. Soft power is when you arrive to someone's office dressed up really nice; have a lovely conversation with them over coffee and pastries about what they're going to do this year; and at the end you look at your business companions and casually remark, "I don't even know why I brought these huge, muscled-looking ex-mobsters with me at all."

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