“We’ve built up tons of levers and instruments over the years, giving us the potential to crank out a real diplomatic symphony.”

ALL useless, as history has proven many times and is proving yet again. There are none so blind as those who refuse to see.
Are those Russian MBT’s crushing the Rose revolution or the Orange revolution? Soft power ALWAYS bows to hard power. Always. Just ask the Lebanese.
Decades building up those ‘levers and insruments’ and they are blown away in minutes by an Armored Division.
If your solution is MORE levers and instruments, I have to ask if you checked the kool-aid before you started sipping. What does it mean when you keep doing the same thing over and over in the same situation, all the while expecting different results?
Time to rethink things, maybe?

“The Americans will always do the right thing… After they’ve exhausted all the alternatives.”
- Winston Churchill