Amid all the attention being devoted to China and the potential for competition or even conflict with the US, it should not be forgotten that Russia’s future hangs in the balance, for history suggests that declining powers can pose as great a challenge to world order as rising ones. One need only consider Austria-Hungary and Ottoman Turkey at the start of the twentieth century or the former Yugoslavia at its end.
如今，世界对中国及其同美国竞争甚至是冲突的可能性颇为关注。但是，不应忘记俄罗斯前途难料，因为历史表明，衰败中的列强对世界所构成的挑战不亚于正在崛起的强国。人们只要看看二十世纪初叶奥匈帝国和奥托曼帝国以及前南斯拉夫瓦解之前的历史就可以知道。