Can you for one moment be not west centric? Ignoring tschetschenia , georgia, Ukraine, first Afghan invasion, the uighurs, the Tibetan, mount karabach, kashmir, Syrian proxy wars, Serbs vs Bosniaks, Yemen and all those funny little conflicts the lesser empires engaged in the last 30 years. They did not always go medieval, but did so only because the US would deter the worst.

The US is not the center of the universe and lots of influence sphere pushing goes down in lots of backyards.