Conflict between great powers is back with vengeance: the new Cold War between the US and China plus Russia

China’s emergence as a powerful challenger to the US’s and the west’s well-crystallized position atop the global hierarchy poses the question of how to co-exist peacefully. This essay discusses several economic sectors where the two sides are acting aggressively towards each other; in trade, capital, high-tech, and cyberwar. It argues that the geopolitical class of the US and the west must go against the drift of popular opinion and strengthen interaction and investment in the ‘battle ground’ states of the global South, while simultaneously sustaining a closer negotiating position with China and avoiding a self-fulfilling prophecy of war. It concludes with a discussion of appropriate western steps to peaceful co-existence, and the prospects for hot war.