I believe there are dark days ahead for the United States. On the one hand you have a lot of anger and desperation amongst the American people. And the BLM riots and the storming of Capitol Hill by Trump supporters are manifestations of that. On the other hand you have massive and multiple debt and asset bubble's in the US economy that are growing larger by the day. If you have this level of violence and instability BEFORE the asset bubble's burst. Then it becomes frightening to think what will happen to the US and in the US AFTER the asset bubble's burst.
The problem with the people talking about US China relations (including Rudd) is that they only talk about China and its trouble's and almost leaves the US out completely. They underestimate the problems in the US and often times exaggerate the problems in China. This is because in the end these are people that are making political commentary driven by ideology. That also includes the people that are considered to be "moderate" and "pro-engagement" like Rudd.
The biggest threat to America's pre-eminence abroad and the Americans well being at home is not China or Russia but America's internal problems. And the American's inability to deal with them.
We've seen asset bubbles burst before in the USA, notably in 2000 and 2008.
However, they weren't accompanied by much violence and instability, although we can see that the aftermath of 2008 has contributed to the frustrations we see today.
But come Autumn 2020, most people should be vaccinated and a lot of the economic relief programs are going to be cut.
When you combine that with pent-up stress of the past 18months, that is when I expect the violence to burst out.
As for the American internal divide, I don't see how these can be bridged because it is frequently a ideological/cultural/religious/racial divide.
On the race front:
1. only 9% of Republicans think Black people have it more difficult in the USA.
2. only 5% of Republicans think White people are privileged in the USA.
I think rather than "white privilege", it is more accurate to call it "majority privilege".
So if you are part of the majority in any country, it is generally easier for you (eg USA, China, India, Kenya, etc)
But I really don't see any solution to this, because you can't change your skin colour.
Nor can you force White people to live an experience as a Black person for a week.
And the situation is only going to get worse as Whites become a minority in the USA, and lose more privilege and status.
Which will also be magnified by the USA being overtaken by China in the future.
