President Barack Obama's new defence strategy for the United States involving cuts and drawdowns of its military requirements and presence the world over reflects the superpower's current economic priorities. Yet on close observation, it sets the stage for a new form of preparations for asymmetric defence and hegemonic designs vis-à-vis west Asia, central Asia and the Asia-Pacific. Despite its ambitions to formulate a new cold war in these regions, particularly targeted at China, the economic interrelationship with that country would necessitate only a half-cold war or thereabouts.