Condoleezza Rice warns of the new 'Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse' — populism, nativism, isolationism and protectionism

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Condoleezza Rice, who was secretary of state and national security adviser to president George W. Bush, wrote a compelling essay in Foreign Affairs: “The Perils of Isolationism.” Her similarly persuasive subtitle was “The World Still Needs America — and America Still Needs the World.” Isolation has never been the answer to U.S. security or prosperity. The last attempt in the 1920s and ’30s triggered the Great Depression and contributed to World War II. Rice asserts that the world today is more dangerous than during the Cold War with multiple adversaries co-operating to joust against the U.S. and its allies. Principal challenges come from China and Russia, both abetted by the rogue states of Iran and North Korea — four countries with a common cause: “to undermine and replace the U.S.- led international system that they detest.”

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It is not like the Cold War because “China is not the Soviet Union.” Unlike the Soviet Union, which was insular and preferred self-sufficiency, China ended its isolation in 1970 and rapidly embraced the economic benefits of globalization, prompting the West to naively believe that economic growth would be a prelude to political liberalization. Instead, China openly flouted international trade principles. As an avowed Marxist, Chinese President Xi Jinping abandoned economic liberalization and asserted absolute political control. Whereas the Soviet Union required Eastern European allies to adopt Soviet-style communism, China is largely agnostic about the ideological orientation of other states.

China now has the........

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