Thanks. The US has a terrible violent interventionist history in South America - I don’t think anyone can argue that. I feel that they have changed their approach a bit though. Less violence, and more reliance on international and regional organizations, along with “soft” measures like sanctions to maintain the status quo that helps to protect their national interests. Iraq was the major disappointment of my time - despite worldwide protests, the coalition of the willing moved in.

Nowadays, it mostly seems like the US’ enemies are those who position themselves as such. It will increasingly be proxy wars, with the US and their friends and partners providing a mix of carrots and sticks to potential friends and partners, in line with the principles of international law, like we see in Ukraine today.

Similarly, if a country doesn’t want to go that way, it should be free to do so - it cannot expect the same privileged access to markets etc., and there should be carrots offered for “good behaviour” like respecting human rights. Here I see the possibility of China offering an alternative with a protective umbrella for other countries. If respect for human rights is important on both sides, and there are options for citizens to migrate / vote with their feet then this could be a good result, reestablishing a bipolar world along with “value competition”.

China’s rise has been pretty peaceful, and gives me hope. Similarly, the EU continues to be a rich powerful bloc that engages in economic and value competition with the US, and manages to protect its people from some of the worst aspects of the US’ influence. I’d like a little more democracy and freedom back in the EU though … we’ve been slipping into tyranny in some ways (eg. some of the covid politics and resulting witch hunts, and their handling of the financial crisis and greece, putting politics ahead of solid medical and economic advice and fostering disunity)