New Cold Wars: China's Rise, Russia's Invasion, and America's Struggle to Defend the West

by David E. Sanger

As the summer of 2023 faded, it seemed that Prigozhin was not the only one who had miscalculated. All three superpowers—Russia, China, and the United States—appeared less focused on competing with each other than on managing fractures within. Putin might have vanquished his biggest challenger, but he couldn’t hide the substantial casualty count—estimated by U.S. intelligence at over 300,000, including 120,000 deaths—in a war that was supposed to last a matter of days. The Chinese were in a deep malaise, having emerged from the darkest days of COVID only to discover that the days of hypergrowth appeared to be over—and that Xi’s focus on security had come at a considerable economic cost. The United States found itself more divided than ever, with more than a quarter of voters telling pollsters that they thought political violence might be the best way to save what they cherished most about the country. And even the Ukrainians, while happy to have survived a near-death experience, were coming to realize that the West was not rushing to let them into NATO—and that the possibility of abandonment might be real.