The Thucydides Trap: Are the U.S. and China Headed for War? In 12 of 16 past cases in which a rising power has confronted a ruling power, the result has been bloodshed. When Barack Obama meets this week with Xi Jinping during the Chinese president’s first state visit to America, one item probably won’t be on their agenda: the possibility that the United States and China could find themselves at wa
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