Détente therefore presented many problems for the US and the USSR, although as the less advanced of the two the Soviet Union had a greater vested interest in modifying the superpower competition than its rival. For this reason Moscow remained more deeply committed to the preservation of détente than the US. In the US, however, it was literally destroyed before it was born. Hence, what began as an intellectually sophisticated way of managing both the USSR and the world while guaranteeing America’s continued dominance over both ended in disaster. Moving ‘beyond the cold war’ clearly proved far more difficult than even Kissinger would have thought possible.