At the risk of having left out a tectonic shift or two here and there, here’s my list of twelve of the most intriguing and potentially far-reaching geostrategic gestures of the year. As you can see, as in the Cold War, most have been moves by the U.S., Russia and, increasingly, China, to improve their placement on the chess board. For the most part, also as in the Cold War, they are using proxy territories to do so.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s friendly overtures to the United States, soon after taking power in August. The Obama Administration’s reciprocal openness, leading to November’s six-month nuclear agreement with Iran by the U.S. and other Western powers, in spite of bitter opposition by traditional allies Saudi Arabia and Israel.

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Obama’s step back, in August, from his avowed Syrian “red line,” and his acceptance of Vladimir Putin’s offer to help get rid of Assad’s chemical-weapons arsenal. China’s unilateral declaration, in November, of an Air Defense Zone in disputed waters in the East China Sea. The decision, three days later, by the U.S. Air Force to dispatch two B-52 bombers on a flight through China’s just-declared A.D.Z., on what was called a “routine training mission.” Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega’s granting of a concession, in June, to a Chinese businessman to build a trans-Nicaraguan canal to rival Panama’s ninety-nine-year-old, American-built canal. Obama’s friendly handshake with Cuban President Raúl Castro at Nelson Mandela’s memorial service, in Johannesburg, on December 8th. French President François Hollande’s ordering of the French military to restore law and order in the violence-torn former French African colonies Mali and the Central African Republic. Obama’s belated suspension, in October, of military aid to the Egyptian military in response to the violent social crackdown it has overseen since its overthrow, last July, of the democratically elected President Mohamed Morsi. The November offer, by Russia’s government, to sell sophisticated military hardware to the military regime in Egypt. Edward Snowden’s flight to Hong Kong, in May, followed by the disclosures of his N.S.A. documents, his sojourn in a Moscow airport, and Putin’s granting of asylum in Russia. Canada and Russia’s rival assertions of sovereign authority over the Arctic North Pole.

Above: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, in New York. Photograph by John Minchillo/AP.