There’s every reason to think that this will all build to a new Cold War—or, if things really go sour, a brutal, violent conflict that will only leave one superpower standing.

Lmao. Yeah totally dude there would definitely be a superpower left standing, only that "superpower" that's left as the dominant military force on the planet will consist of a single pickup truck with a full tank of gas and a couple guys in it with AR-15's and little enough radiation poisoning that they might survive another 5 years or so.