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Alarms are clanging worldwide over publication of President Donald Trump’s “ National Security Strategy ,” with commentators warning that it places the country “ to the right of the extreme right ,” that it’s “ a shock to the system ,” “ catastrophic to America’s standing in the world ,” and could mark “ the end of the free world .”

Unease is warranted; it’s a nerve-rattling document, clearly designed for that effect. But it’s worth asking whether it has any effect, whether the world—or Trump America’s policy toward it—would be any different if it had never been drafted. Speaking of which, who did draft it? And why does such a document exist? What is the

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