Patient, prudent, strategic? The 2015 United States National Security Strategy

'Strategic patience' is the core guiding principle in the new National Security Strategy of the United States. The document seeks to outline a prudent middle course between the world as it is and the world the US seeks. However, while offering important pointers for the American global posture, the new strategy also exposes the strategic dilemmas facing the US. More specifically, the strategy confirms the ongoing American re-balancing to the Asia-Pacific and calls for a constructive relationship with China, but re-states the US commitment to European security in the face of an aggressive Russia. As the EU embarks on a new exercise to assess the changing global environment and its own strategic priorities, the new US strategy shows the difficulty of balancing hard realities and normative aspirations.