Prof. Alfred McCoy elaborates on recent essay, âGrandmaster of the Great Game: Obamaâs Geopolitical Strategy for Containing China,â (Tomâs Disptach) in which he places Obama among the limited number of presidents and public figures whose geopolitical skills will have transformed Americaâs global role, McCoy takes listeners from Halford Mackinder, father of geopolitics and âheartlandâ theory to Elihu Root to Brzezinski to Obamaâs efforts to interrupt Chinaâs global ambitions and maintain US global hegemony through TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) and TTIP (Trans-Atlantuc Trade & Investment Partnership) for which, uniquely, he has and has needed Republican support.