@green potato; it was predictable that as China approached the USA in the size and complexity of its economy that the USA would resort to re-asserting it military might, run roughshod over the UN and wind back what little 'free trade' it was committed to.
US corporations now rank amongst the world's worst for taxa minimisation / avoidance in countries where they operate and have been delivered monopoly control in countries including Australia by subservient governments. The nexus between 'western' billionaires and the UK's unequalled network of tax havens is without precedent - so too the laundering of money, hiding ownership via opaque corporate structures and rampant insider trading.
The sheer scale of $Greed-induced fraud / corruption flowing from Wall Street to Washington should remind us about the reasons empires rise and fall.
The USA is actively ramping up a military bloc including: core NATO countries, Israel, the UK, Canada, Japan, Australia ...
That's forcing others to gather together with China, Russia, Iran, Syria, North Korea, ... China and Russia have extended their influence throughout SE Asia, South America and Africa with India apparently sitting on the fence.
IMO it already looks ugly and all but insoluble as the warmongers bristle and weapons manufacturers rattle their testicles and preach hatred.
