I mean, the US can’t exactly be relied upon to fill that role over the next however many years of temper tantrums, graft and whatever else (nuking hurricanes?)
No. The seismic shift since Trumps first run has been felt. A bunch of, for lack of a better word, asshole world leaders running amuck: Assad, Putin, Netanyahu. Even N Korea is bolder. S Korea even tried to pull a military coup on democracy.
Power vacuums on the world stage matter. Trump created that. And we’ve failed to mend it either election since.
Lame duck President. Inertia. And now another run of Trump. We’re effectively done on the world stage, except for the occasional show of being a bully, probably, because it’s Trump and he wants to play with military toys.
Here’s the bigger problem.
China is boycotting all sales to our defense contractors. Take a minute to think about what that means. And will Trump continue to export what chips we do have to China this term as well? While distracting everyone with tariffs? There’s a modicum of security in military dominance, but it’s not us any more, it’s probably China.
For negotiating with Russia? It makes sense, they’re an actual ally of Russia’s that they rely on. We can waggle our finger at them all we’d like, & they could do the same to us, but that doesn’t mean much. If China has something to say on the matter, however, their words would carry more weight.
Also, as others have pointed out, Beijing has been making lots of moves to become a key negotiator in places where America (or the west at-large) have failed (or are otherwise unable) to step in.
Still a hell of a lot more democratic than China is. I get what you’re saying but there’s still a long way to fall from our flawed democratic institutions.
So China is the new world negotiator? Headline trend over the last couple months anyway.
I mean, the US can’t exactly be relied upon to fill that role over the next however many years of temper tantrums, graft and whatever else (nuking hurricanes?)
No. The seismic shift since Trumps first run has been felt. A bunch of, for lack of a better word, asshole world leaders running amuck: Assad, Putin, Netanyahu. Even N Korea is bolder. S Korea even tried to pull a military coup on democracy.
Power vacuums on the world stage matter. Trump created that. And we’ve failed to mend it either election since.
Lame duck President. Inertia. And now another run of Trump. We’re effectively done on the world stage, except for the occasional show of being a bully, probably, because it’s Trump and he wants to play with military toys.
Here’s the bigger problem.
China is boycotting all sales to our defense contractors. Take a minute to think about what that means. And will Trump continue to export what chips we do have to China this term as well? While distracting everyone with tariffs? There’s a modicum of security in military dominance, but it’s not us any more, it’s probably China.
For negotiating with Russia? It makes sense, they’re an actual ally of Russia’s that they rely on. We can waggle our finger at them all we’d like, & they could do the same to us, but that doesn’t mean much. If China has something to say on the matter, however, their words would carry more weight.
Also, as others have pointed out, Beijing has been making lots of moves to become a key negotiator in places where America (or the west at-large) have failed (or are otherwise unable) to step in.
Why wouldn’t they be? China has been a major player in international politics for a long time.
I’m not saying it isn’t expected. But it is notable in that it isn’t a democratic nation running the show.
They’re not “running the show”. Nobody is. That’s not how international politics works. They have a lot of influence is all.
A fair rewording.
Neither is the US
Still a hell of a lot more democratic than China is. I get what you’re saying but there’s still a long way to fall from our flawed democratic institutions.
Yeah, they have a whole two parties compared to china’s one party.
Not any more, no.