The Great Coming Apart.

GOVERNMENT policy; INFORMATION sharing; FOREIGN trade regulation; ECONOMICS; TREATIES; INTERNATIONAL organization

While these rivalries play out, new technologies and methods of warfare mean weaker states and non-state actors such as terrorists can attack the interests of others from distance and with impunity. Weapons and equipment that were once the exclusive property of powerful states, such as drones and guided missiles, are now in the hands of smaller states and terrorist groups. When Brussels advocated that EU countries restrict exports of medical equipment in response to coronavirus, it was China who came to the aid of EU accession countries such as Serbia. And as China's economy became more market-based, liberals supposed, so its state would accede to the demands of its people for freedom. [Extracted from the article]

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