Seeing Trees, But No Forests

In one of his latest Slate article, Christopher Hitchens discusses the mutual (negative) influence Iraq and Iran are having on each other. Once again, he tries to shift the blame for the mess in Iraq from the United States to Iran. The level to which Hitchens has become deluded is summed up in his last sentence, in which he says the following about Iran:

Whatever the case, it cannot be that such a despotic and arrogant regime feels that it can meddle everywhere without any cost to itself.

Hey Chris, can you think of any other countries to which this line of reasoning could be applied?