Within highly successful nations, each driven to division, we no longer view ourselves as ‘one.’ Action is instantly criticized by our political opponents, creating a situation where every threat must be considered sufficiently dangerous before coordinated action can or will be taken.

With fast acting threats - like now -- there’s not the customary time for bickering (though that’s not currently stopping the US Congress)..

However, with a Dictator in charge, whose first instinct is to suppress bad news, be it China, the USA, North Korea or Russia … is not their response worse than slow..?

I understand that Mr Monbiot is a renown activist and journalist snd there are elements of truth in his piece.

The limitation of the article is that he is very kern to show how badly the three governments have performed but does not held up any nations as exemplars.

Consequently, I feel the piece suffers from confirmation bias.

Good article. Not much I can say, we are seeing this scenario play out in real time. Human nature at it's best and it's worst. Do not take too much from either news cycle and do not believe everything you hear of read.