One point is pretty clear to me:
The deeper our world gets mired in Covidity, the more absolutely vital it is that we Yanks, in particular, do not either worship or despise - much less demonize - this admittedly vile thing we call mainland China. AKA the One Indispensable Ingredient, without which our Global Pandemic Stew could hardly have come to a boil, much less boiled over.Neither worship, nor despise, nor demonize. Honestly, is that so terribly hard? Is it asking so much that we do our best NOT to make the Red Chinese an even more vindictive, arrogant, self-righteous enemy - or medical savior - than they already are? By now we know that worshiping them, as we did at the height (c. 2005-2010) of our infatuation with All Things Beijing, can mean only the (further) economic, political and social degradation of America. And that, despite all our most grandiose/grotesque fantasies of permanent unipolarity. Even as despising the Imperial Chinese, as did the 19th-century British with their flippant, heartless pursuit of the opium trade, once meant only the moral and spiritual degradation not just of China, but even more so of Britain. While, lastly, demonizing them can only lead to the One Thing that we wretched Americans seem to "excel" at these days: more war, whether cold or hot or whatever lies in between.
My own advice at this point? Just respect Today's Neoimperial China - and above all be sure, from hereon in, always to cultivate a firm, respectful and guarded distance. Political no less than social.
As for that other favorite obsession of ours - our ongoing, through-thick-and-thin loathing, scorn and simultaneous demonization/belittling of Moscow? Something tells me the sooner we swear off that vicious habit, the vastly better our chances of discerning whatever residual goodness/usefulness DOES lie, even now, in the (still) beating heart of Russia. And, who knows? - maybe even bringing that goodness to the surface?
Remember, the world's not exactly becoming a safer place, or simpler, or easier to manage. Not even by us omniconfident Yanks. Nor are our most serious and formidable rivals exactly getting nicer either. Especially as we come ever more face-to-face with competitors like the (Anti-)People's Republic, which - although hardly deserving of our contempt or demonization (much less our worship, or continued codependency/partnership) - for sheer nastiness has few rivals anywhere. All the more reason, it seems to me, that we smart Yanks should try to conciliate all the (semi-)competent, well-resourced, NON-Communist, NON-Wahhabi friends we can get. Including, yes, Russia. Even if they wind up being just neutral bystanders.
Oh yes (to my American readers) - and wherever possible, vote American Solidarity Party.
(Edited.)
