As countries consider what their options may be in the face of shifting U.S. priorities, there is also the possibility that some nations will seek to exploit the rifts in international relations to benefit themselves.
He and other proponents of the fossil-fuel industry have already exploited the rift to remind voters about the potential wealth drawn from the earth.
What I am surprised at is that Corbett has not exploited the rift in the Democratic Party on fracking.
Exploiting the rift between the increasingly powerless Caliph and his brother with demonstrations of support for the former, and relying on his powerful army, Ibn Tulun managed to gain control over Syria and the frontier zone with the Byzantine Empire (the Thughur).
The joint operation is aimed at reducing tensions between Arabs and Kurds, and preventing extremists from exploiting the rifts.
The UN was accused of having planted the seeds of this conflict by mishandling the integration of former rebel fighters and pro-Indonesian militias into the new country's security forces, though the clash was fuelled by rival politicians, exploiting the rifts for their own ends.
Democrats, meanwhile, have been trying to exploit the Republican rift by asserting that Mr. Bush's tax cut might weaken the military.
Moreover, they continue, there's no reason to think the Najaf model will work in Sunni cities, where we don't understand and can't exploit the local rifts, where there is no Sistani figure to come in at crucial moments.
The broader question is whether Pakistan's army, which fights the Pakistani Taliban yet maintains an ambiguous posture on other militant groups, will be able to exploit the growing leadership rift to weaken it militarily.
Blé Goudé hoped to exploit the Franco-American rift over Iraq, and he explained that Ivory Coast's struggle was the same as America's: for democracy and against terrorism.
