The sight of Dennis Rodman, the eccentric basketball player, going to North Korea has annoyed a surprisingly large number of people. Rodman is accused of being cozy with a brutal and murderous regime and, if the critics are to be believed, his presence gives the young North Korean dictator a measure of credibility and probably even boosts his domestic support – as if the average North Korean had ever heard of Rodman before he began to frequent Pyongyang.

To a large extent such ideas might reflect a somewhat exaggerated view of America’s importance, quite typical of many in the United States today. Whatever those in the United States would like to believe, most of the world does not look to Washington as either a moral compass or a supreme force that bestows legitimacy on governments worldwide.