From an American perspective, it is understandable that a group of religious fanatics grabed all attention by acts of extreme violence. But, from a non-American

From an American perspective, it is understandable that a group of religious fanatics grabed all attention by acts of extreme violence. But, from a non-American perspective, I think that too much resources were needlessly invested by the US to chase a faraway bunch of lunatics. Our attention was purposefully oriented by the USA towards the Middle East for what was unclear and uncertain at the time of invasion. Why not simply take out the top leaders or commanders? Why not stage a coup d'état? Why not put in a place an embargo? Why not sanction the financiers of radicals? The issue with China is they are deadbeat serious about economic growth. Masquerading as communists, speaking out as socialists but deep down thinking like mere capitalists. The historian makes comparison between Soviet Union and PRC that I think are erroneous. Crimea and Taiwan could be compared on the basis of territory size or cultural affinities. But unfortunately, China decided to focus on the Xinjiang region. From there, it borders more than 5 huge countries and the region is the basis for implementing their next decade growth engine i.e. belt and road project. They have more official manpower over there than on the Taiwan borders. They are effectively able to colonize the Uyghur region more than the overpopulated Taiwan island. Why bother making scenarios that China might invade a wealthy nation instead of a lawless region? The terrorists for America were in Middle East; the terrorists for China are not far from that location. Really, China and SE Asia will continue their rise as it's evident that Americans are self-obsessed and lack commitment to long term goals. Interagency fights lead to zero sum games in the federal administration which will then destroy any valuable foreign policy strategy. Let's learn the lesson for goodness' sake. Truly speaking, the US has always been an immigrant country, so growth will certainly come from the new-comers. The issue is that for the last five years, the USA has portrayed itself as the most anti-immigrant land. It's been losing its appeal for talented professionals. Then it's hard for me to agree with a historian who is predicting the future out of thin air with plenty of bias. Most probably, Xi's administration will move to Taiwan... to poach its tech talent pool. Until now, the Chinese media has not yet started beating drums for their army to go hunt ennemies in the South East Asia. Their focus and attention is really elsewhere.