Wasn't there something somewhere about "Power corrupts, etc"? This dynamic knows no political, cultural, or geographical borders. The powerful in every large society throughout history end up becoming incompetent, amoral assholes; it's a rule of the universe. The natural solution also always follows: collapse. At this point, the major powers on Earth are all just competing to see who can survive the longest before their particular collapse comes. It's quite a horse race. :)