Reminder, as long as the US exists in it's current form, Russia gets all the Carte Blanches they request from me so long as they don't commit genocide...
Sorry not sorry, but a superpower and an unipolar world are a complete perversion of the natural order of the world borne solely out of an ungodly fusion of assimilationist imperialism, the favors of the world's most powerful empire at the time and geographical isolation.
The United States is the size it is due to sheer dumb luck,,, Similar countries collapsed at one point or the other. It's a wonder America hasn't, or that it hasn't had to deal with Russia's imperial overstretch or China and India's demographic instability.
Almost every other state the size of the US hasn't remained stable for long because sheer size makes them unstable without a strong hand, thus why two out of the three mentioned states have only succeeded under autocratic governments and underperformed under liberal ones and why similar unions dissolved when the leaders' refused to consolidate power, like Imperial Brazil or Gran Colombia...
It might have been misconstrued, but the fake statement of "There is a Providence that protects idiots, drunkards, children and the United States of America" from Bismarck rings true. No other country under near identical circumstances emerged or stayed stable for long. Thus the conclusion is that the US is just marginally more stable and by virtue of it's nature, will naturally fall or be felled, or that it's effectively manipulating the circumstances to stay stable. After the Great Recession, I feel it's the latter. Thus, a resilient great power in direct opposition is necessary to limit their ability to change the rules whenever they near breaking point and they follow the natural course of events and do break.
This seems off topic, but it's the rationale behind the reason why I ignore Russia and China's acts. Those two countries will be very strong, but they will not be the colossal behemoths the US is because natural order just doesn't allow for it. If everyone lived like an American, we would need the resources of more than one Earth. That alone drives the point home that the US is bloated beyond belief and a negative contributor. It needs to be trimmed to be competitive and efficient. Their status as a Superpower and their drive to keep it are the reason they are gobbling up resources the way they are and no Green Revolution is going to change this. Thus, a Great Power outsmarting them is necessary to push them to breaking point like they did with the USSR. Thankfully, the US has a lower tolerance threshold for the size the military can grow before their economy cannot keep up. It's good to know that you don't need to outspend them to do this, so long as new innovations keep coming out, the US will increase spending until their economy snaps... Alternatively, they cool down and their projection power dwindles, and probably never recovers once they learn how pointless it was.
Well, as one would put it... They have too much power, and power corrupts. No need to say anything further.
