> To be fair, you're describing the USA over the past century
Then the question is: what are your commitments and which empire is closer to them?
Also, it's not exactly the US, since the US has a different underlying ideology, and US's commitment to free markets was successfully exploited by the Chinese in a way I don't think they'll be dumb enough to repeat.
I know you meant this as nothing more than a dig at the US (yawn), but if anything that lends credence to his argument. They've seen the playbook and they're gonna try their hand at it now. If they're successful, then it becomes yet another chapter in the book on the rise and fall of empires that my grandson will write a high school essay on.
Then the question is: what are your commitments and which empire is closer to them?
Also, it's not exactly the US, since the US has a different underlying ideology, and US's commitment to free markets was successfully exploited by the Chinese in a way I don't think they'll be dumb enough to repeat.