Melvyn Leffler, professor of history emeritus at the University of Virginia, explains that there are very clear differences in our current rivalry with China. He points out that the cold war between the United States and the Soviet Union was clearly a phenomenon that stemmed from a desire to go to war but no will to follow through. Both sides competed for strategic assets around the world and even engaged in proxy wars to stem the spread of Communism or Capitalism respectively. Both sides wished to erase the other’s way of life and the only thing stopping an actual conflict was war exhaustion ...