What’s so mind blowing about it is that this would make a ton of sense if it was a big superpower like China or even a greatly declined one like Russia.

But, no, it’s “some random country” with a population smaller than Ohio that’s 5x smaller in land mass than Ohio.

Basically if you removed the entire greater Cleveland area from Ohio you’d get the population of Israel.

The global influence per capita is astounding.

Turns out that it’s easier to be manipulated by a nefarious ally rather than the expected enemy.