Commentary Josef Stalin once queried, “how many divisions has the Pope?” as a way to belittle Pius XII’s influence in contrast to the might of the Red Army. That was easy to do from his position at the end of World War II. Yet religion in Poland, East Germany, the Soviet Union itself, and among the Mujahideen in Afghanistan, all contributed in their own ways to the demise of Stalin’s empire. Religion, like U.S. ideology, was a strategic asymmetry in the struggle against the Soviet Union. A strategic asymmetry is the identification of areas of comparative advantage in a competitive relationship. Advantages may be economic, military, political, ideological, or social, which produce greater capability, capacity, or efficiency sufficient to change or maintain a balance of power between peer competitors. In the present contest with China, U.S. ideology may play an analogous role. To win the competition with China, the ideology …
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