[superxpro12]

right. because there's zero demonstrative value in USAID giving aid to foreign countries which is why we just left.

...and then china moved in.

The real problem is that the problem isnt binary or immediately causal. "This happened, and then that happened".

These problems are slowly developing with more than 1 term in the equation.

China doesnt build silk road 2.0 because of one little decision. It's an accumulation, and by then it's too late.

[drstewart]

What's the Chinese version of the factbook? European? Canadian? Why aren't they all moving in on all this sweet soft power?

[delfinom]

There is none other than a heavier source like Wikipedia (heavy because the information is there but inconsistently buried in writing), but it is death by a thousand papercuts in terms of losing soft power.