All empires fall, either from without or from within. The end can come very suddenly.
Of all the possible outcomes, being bought out by the Russians and/or Chinese wasn't in my top ten.
The contagion has migrated north too. I have a bad feeling about our upcoming election.
We've got a mini-Trump and his acolytes who've usurped the old moderate conservative party, while whatever remains of the moderates just make excuses that they won't be that bad.