In this episode, Santos is pulling ahead of Vinick in the campaign. Meanwhile, the President makes the decision to deploy hundreds of thousands of troops into Kazakhstan for years in order to stop Russia and China from going into an armed conflict over oil.

Looking back at this episode is interesting, because when this episode aired in 2006 we were threatened by the notion that Russia and China could come into conflict with one another, and now we are threatened by their increasing collaboration. Throughout the war in Ukraine, China has claimed neutrality, with Beijing making calls for peace. However, during this time China has been supporting Russia both politically and economically. Furthermore, despite China vowing to not sell weapons to either side in the war, they have been supplying Russia with military gear through exploitation of a loophole in Western sanctions, selling the Russians “dual-use” technology, or technology that could be used by the military or civilians. The roadblock in stopping this practice is that Western countries don’t want to sanction the economic powerhouse that is China, a fact that the country is perfectly aware of. In addition to supplying weapons, Russia and China have also been engaging in joint military exercises since the start of the war. In fact, the two hosted joint naval drills last week. China and Russia are aligned in their dislike of America’s global dominance and desire to create a new global order. Both China and Russia are part of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) group which has been increasingly collaborating to rival the G7 countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States). This threatens the United States’ dominance in the global order.

Despite the two countries working together, many speculate that Russia and China have an uneven relationship. Russia has cut itself off from the West in its invasion of Ukraine and is now reliant on China for trade. China is getting products at lower prices because of this, and they are conducting trades using the Chinese currency, the Yuan. This helps to undercut the dollar as the dominant global currency. When this episode came out in 2006 China had the fourth largest economy in the world, by 2010 it become the second largest economy in the world, and some predict by 2035 it will overtake the U.S. to become the first largest economy in the world.

In the episode, Vinick complains that “we're placing ourselves on an oil field between two nuclear powers, alone.” But President Bartlet counters that “these armies are marching toward each other and someone must stand in the middle. Unfortunately, it has to be us.” Thankfully it seems that these two nuclear powers are no longer likely to come into armed conflict with one another. But as they collaborate and a more multipolar world order emerges, America’s ability to be the world’s policeman seems to be in decline.