I believe this was also a plot point of the (newer) Outer Limits, with drugged up soldiers believing each other to be hostile aliens.
Without the USSR, the US didn’t have any other power to serve as a credible enemy.
I’m certainly not some insightful prophet: I can’t discount SF playing its part in influencing me; but it also makes sense in the long term (Carthage and Rome; Greece Polis’ and Persia…).
Headbutting is inevitable and China clearly was getting stronger even in the 1990s.
It was also a plot point in Ghost Fleet by P.W. Singer, which is kind of a think-tanked hypothetical "what-if" look at WW3 between China and the US, and has been adopted as reading material by the US military. The US military is full of guys who care about nothing in life except the defense of the country. Any dependency we have on China, you can be sure they're well aware of it.
Without the USSR, the US didn’t have any other power to serve as a credible enemy.
I’m certainly not some insightful prophet: I can’t discount SF playing its part in influencing me; but it also makes sense in the long term (Carthage and Rome; Greece Polis’ and Persia…).
Headbutting is inevitable and China clearly was getting stronger even in the 1990s.