I'm not keen on any Mike-vs-Mike battles. I don't think I have enough topical knowledge to compete. I just express my current semi-informed understanding.
I often speak negatively about the US and positively about Russia and China. But that isn't because those places are better. They are worse, often far worse. The US is a much freer place. But I'm mad at her because she has been going downhill for decades and abandoning so much of what was great about her. She is corrupted and becoming less and less free (don't take my word for it, watch the latest Reason video about it). And China has been ascending and seems on the polar opposite trend, becoming more free and has suprassed America in most technical disciplines.
Maybe it is just a reversion to the mean?