[maverick-iceman]

> MAD policy

MAD is still going strong. It's not military based, but economical.

It's the reason why theories about intentional release of COVID-19 are bunk.

China is worse off than it would have been without the virus.

Same goes for nukes. If Xi or Putin decide to nuke the US , people will assault their palaces in 3-6 months for food and water. Even if the US somehow fails to respond.

The global economy is interconnected to a degree that makes it impossible for a leader to order a nuclear attack and not have his own people remove him violently

[selfhoster11]

> China is worse off than it would have been without the virus.

Only if you measure progress in economic terms. Nothing I've seen contradicts my belief that they are now geopolitically better off than before the pandemic.

[maverick-iceman]

Xi (and every leader for that matter) chances to stay in power are intrinsically linked to one metric:

Quality of life of the population

If you leave quality of life on the table because of geopolitical games you are shooting yourselves in the foot.

Even during massive state sponsored hate campaigns (such as the one promoted by Hitler against the Jews) the population spends just a bunch of minutes per day actually fuming and hating...the rest of the 24 hrs they live their lives.

Quality of life is a much more potent motivator to support the leader/party than hatred.

That's why any sane country and leader would never attack an economically important country intentionally.

Violent wars are relegated to Africa and the economically unimportant areas of the Middle East such as Yemen. With some small outbreaks here and there in ethnically hot areas such as Ukraine