Alfredo Toro Hardy is a Venezuelan retired diplomat, scholar and author.  He has a PhD on International Relations and several master and postgraduate degrees, including a Master in Law degree from the University of Pennsylvania. Before resigning from the Venezuelan Foreign Service in protest for the authoritarian outreach of the government, he served as Ambassador to the United States, the United Kingdom, Spain, Brazil, Singapore, Chile and Ireland. He directed the Diplomatic Academy of his country as well as other Venezuelan academic institutions, while being Visiting Professor at the universities of Princeton, Barcelona and Brasilia. He has been a Fulbright Scholar, Academic Advisor of the University of Westminster, and a two-time Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center Resident Scholar. Author of twenty books and co-author of fifteen more, he has also published thirty peer reviewed papers, all of them on international affairs.

• 1. Introduction.- 2. The brief history of the end of history.- 3. From hiding strengths to assertive showcasting.- 4. From ideology to efficiency.- 5. From hegemony to the squandering of alliances.- 6. From strategic consistency to zigzagging.- 7. From economic high ground to economic lowland.- 8. From reasonable containment to unattainable containment.- 9. Conclusion.