[srisa]

" ... The consequences of this could be rather serious. A diminished USA is going to leave a vacuum which, regardless of the current behaviour of the USA government, is not going to be a good thing as Russia and China rush in to grab what they can. ... " And what makes you think that Russia and China will be worse than USA? Each country acts to protect it's own interests; some may do it with kid gloves, some may do it with iron fist. Difference, if any, would be of degree, not of kind. Some may assume a moral high ground for USA, not everyone would subscribe to that world-view.