[awak3ning]

If I were a foreign actor with malign intent towards the US, I would be very pleased with how things are playing out.

1. Corrosion of formerly stalwart American Institutions 2. The majority of Americans being habituated to mistrust their fellow American 3. The ability for a few entities with concentrated power to harness and control the nervous systems of millions of Americans

[aaronbrethorst]

If you are Matt or Glenn, or stalwart followers of either, then this line of thinking is strictly verboten.

(Which is funny because I think Glenn’s express aim is to do everything he can to undermine American hegemony. Shrug.)

[jmnicolas]

> If I were a foreign actor with malign intent towards the US, I would be very pleased with how things are playing out.

Then you wouldn't have thought enough about it. Look at what happened when the USSR collapsed: the world became less stable and nuclear tech and scientists found their ways in unsavory countries.

There were some civil wars or frozen conflicts that are still a pain today (Transnitria, breakaway republics in Georgia, the whole Ukraine thing, and more recently Azerbaijan vs Armenia).

When the enemy has nukes you want him to be a known quantity, stable and predictable.