Originally Posted by MaxQ

In "Wired" Garrett M. Graff has an essay titled "We are Witnessing the Self-Immolation of a Superpower". Unfortunately, it is behind a paywall.
He lists "6 Pillars "as sources of strength for the USA. As with everything in the real world, to some degree they are all connected.
They are all in various stages of being deliberately destroyed.
He succinctly lays out how unprecedented it is for a nation to consciously dismantle its core sources of strength, power, and influence. All being done simultaneously.

So, agreed. There is not some sort of master-class strategy at work. It is an infantile rage based on flaws and failings in a complex system, developed over 80 plus years, that has provided the USA and much of the world security, wealth, and innovation. Due to it being self-inflicted, it is probably the most astonishingly stupid geopolitical development in modern history.

It reminds me of Mao's Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution all wrapped together, but with even less thought and reflection. A self-inflicted national suicide attempt.
The main difference between Mao's China and todays USA is that the catastrophe that befell China was localized.
What is currently underway will manifest itself as a worldwide contagion, which will greatly magnify the degree of the catastrophe and associated suffering.

Considering Russia's expanded 2022 invasion of Ukraine, I now look upon the hopes at that time of saving the international rules-based order as a lost cause. Russia's defeat in Ukraine will not save what we had, because they are no longer the principal attacker of "The World that Was".
For the sake of Ukraine, Poland and the rest of world, Russian defeat will still be a positive. But it is past the point where other such chaos can be avoided.