ROFL. Just because someone (even the president of the US) says so it doesnt make it true. As long as theres those who believe in such things (spheres of influence) they will exist.
Obviously the President was saying that he doesn't recognize the principle of "spheres of influence".
Heres a question. If we believe those days are over, would WE allow, say, Chinese military presence in Cuba ? Or in Mexico ? For that matter would we allow Russian military presence in Mexico ?
Apparently you do recognize the principle of spheres of influence.
Looking at your above questions you apparently equate the democratically elected governments of Georgia and the United States with the totalitarian governments of Cuba, Russia and China.
BTW, the Soviets (the military included) were propping up the Cubans for years. Our military presence in Georgia was several hundred forces, and most of them were helping Russian by clearing out Chechnyan terrorists in the Pakisi(Sp.) Gorge.
I’m not equating anything, all that such matters *exist*. Furthermore, if the president says he doesn’t recognize such things as a matter of *policy* then GREAT! However, geopolitics show that they *do* own the neighborhood. For all our yelling and screaming the fact is they do. As they’ve painfully demostrated.