Though a lot of that land being tundra and boreal forest, without a lot of population, has been a factor as well. Probably their long term threat will be Chinese moving north, as the climate heats up.

Like Texans moving to Canada.

If the powers that be were actually interested in preserving civilization a bit longer, they could have organized an international peace conference in the early 90's, rather than running roughshod over anyone and everyone. Then they would have sustained some degree of respect and preserved their own power a bit longer.

All the strategic aptitude of bacteria racing across a petri dish.

In a few hundred million years, after enough fossil fuels have collected, we can do it all over again.