Keep pulling the thread on Noah Smith.
The United States now faces a greater geopolitical challenge from China in the Pacific than it did during the Cold War.
The United States can no longer afford to simultaneously defend Europe and focus on the geopolitical challenge from China in Asia.
A potential Donald Trump administration's abandonment of Europe is the only action that might legitimately shock European nations into providing for their own defense.
A potential Trump administration's foreign policy aims to shift the United States' primary alliance from traditional European partners to Russia.
Some within a potential Trump administration believe Russia could be a useful ally or at least a neutral party in a future conflict with China.
China's Belt and Road Initiative has largely been a failure, characterized by low-quality projects, high prices, unserviceable debt, and local political problems.
China is shifting its global economic strategy from infrastructure projects like the Belt and Road Initiative to a more traditional model of offshoring manufacturing via foreign direct investment.
The Chinese government is actively blocking its companies from outsourcing manufacturing to and investing in India.
Foreign investment is leaving China on a net basis due to rising costs, government policies favoring domestic companies, and geopolitical "de-risking."
China is becoming the new champion of globalization, while the United States is pursuing a "suicidal" policy of cutting itself off from the global economy.
The direct military threat to Europe has diminished as Vladimir Putin's Russia is not powerful enough to conquer Western Europe, unlike the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
China's manufacturing output is now far larger than that of the United States.