I'd buy this, but also point out that all nations do this to their rivals. We did it to Russia with the break-up of the Soviet Union (quite overtly; I remember news stories about how we were helping the Ukraine and Belarus achieve independence, and admitting the Baltic Republics to NATO), and it would very much surprise me if we aren't still doing this to all major geopolitical rivals (including, but certainly not limited to, Russia).

I'll go out on a limb and say that the endgame here is the destruction of nationhood as a concept. After the dust settles, all major global powers are going to break up: it's not going to be a matter of eliminating your rivals so you can be the only major nation left standing, it'll be a matter of mutually assured destruction where all nations are disbanded. Instead, the future will look more like a Neal Stephenson novel, with geographically-dispersed micronations contracting out for physical protection to automated kill-bots.