As someone who has research through the lens of gold I am sure you will realise that we could be entering the Thucydides trap moment where US hegemony is being threatened and all those doom extensions. It does certainly 'look' that way but I am never sure of anything because psychologically anchoring is never objective and we all suffer from it.
Depends if you think the petrodollar is a fictional concept or has valid reasonings, I can see the U issue is the trigger that is testing the SWIFT banking system where the majority of trade is using USD as the medium of exchange. Globalisation I think along the way suddenly dawn on the Americans that it isn't an effective tool to alter the political landscape of China, a view Gordon Chang discuss in his book, had the opposite effect by challenging the mantle of economic progress by GDP that US had enjoy in modern times.
Biden unfortunately is the glue that brought Russia-China together and if you look at their political system with both strong men leadership, it is a natural fit in the quid pro quo relationship. If that headline of Xi asking for a delay in invasion is true, it does add a further piece of the puzzle and I had already anticipated this request. With the Beijing literally closed officially, I didn't expect such urgency. You can probably fit other trade agreement and joint navy through Japan (literally) puzzles to add weight to this view. 2 other very important development, CIPS and Beidou, has now probably strengthen the relationship to the next level. All speculation of course so take all my opinions with a large grab of coarse salt!
If you have been following the vaccine lockdown, you will realise that we are now living in a world full of contradictions where tyrany is masked or sterilised by the concept of urgency (emergency) thereby Govts can do WTF they like and use clever headers like 'Mandates' to persuade people. The model and narrative are the same and is just interchange with whatever big issue of the day.
So when I watch the news I am only seeing what the agenda wants me to see regardless if it is Covid or Russian. Be careful what is fed to you so I don't buy much of an extremely bias view by anyone or entity is all I am saying. As for both super powers, they have their reasons to justify and some are clever in how the mask that through the narratives the use.
U is a world away from us but it sets a very direct precedent that will define us in the very near future. It will not be an easy choice for who ever is the PM to make but I can see we will be just a minor player with the game strategy already written for us to follow unfortunately.
