There is an interesting debate going on among US think tank experts as to which camp is right. Should one focus on the initial strategic errors of the West in dealing with the new Russia, or look at Moscow's more recent assertive behaviour in Georgia, Syria or Ukraine?

Sir John Sawers, the former head of Britain's Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), is also a former UK ambassador to the United Nations and has watched Russian diplomacy unfold over recent years. He prefers to focus on the more recent period.

In a recent BBC interview he said that the West had not paid sufficient attention to building the right strategic relationship with Russia over the last eight years.

"If there was a clear understanding between Washington and Moscow about the rules of the road - that we are not trying to bring down each other's systems - then solving regional problems like Syria or Ukraine or North Korea - which is coming rapidly down the path towards us - would be easier," he said.

Several experts I spoke to also pointed to the flat-footedness of the Obama administration's diplomacy and the mixed signals it has often sent.

Washington's absolute power may be declining, but it has sometimes appeared equivocal about using the variety of levers of power that remain. Is it pivoting towards Asia and to what extent is it really downplaying its role in Europe and the Middle East?

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