"If, for instance we look at the various states composing Europe at the present time, we find - without speaking of a systematically regulated balance of power and interests such as does not exist and therefore is often with justice disputed - that still unquestionably the interests, great and small, of the states and nations are interwoven with one another in a most complicated and changeable manner. Each point at which they cross forms a strengthening knot, for in it the tendency of the one counterbalances the tendency of the other. By means of all these knots, therefore, a more or less close inter-connection of the whole is created and for any change to take place this inter-connection must be partially overcome. In this way the sum total of the relations of all the states to one another serves rather to maintain the status quo of the whole than to introduce changes to it, that is to say, that in general the course of events tends to the maintenance of the status quo."
Carl von Clausewitz, On War, Book VI, Ch 6
Clausewitz is talking about the balance of power in Europe of his time, but theoretically his concept is applicable to the European/Russian/US situation of today. If the balance of power among the various states is stable, the tendency will be for that system of relations to remain stable. It would take a large amount of energy to overturn it, but what if the current system is unstable, has outlived its usefulness or "shelf-life" and only becomes increasingly outdated? Then the energy required to maintain it would be wasted, since the dominate tendency would be a new balance of power.
This is where we are now in my opinion. The post-Cold War world established by the Cheneyites in the early 1990s has become unstable to the point, where a significant faction in the US (DJT and his followers) no longer see it has in their interest to maintain. US global hegemony is simply beyond our resources to maintain, no matter how much the corrupt Cheneyites or their Euro elite lackyies may be willing to squander resources in a futile attempt to maintain it.
So much of the hysteria coming out of Cheneyland at the moment is due to this reality . . . enjoy the ride . . .
