The Carthaginians were never completely destroyed. They rebuilt and changed their tactics. They couldn't win an open war so they switched to subversion. Same way they pulled down numerous other empires over the centuries. There is nothing new under the sun.
"When you cannot destroy/defeat the United States of America by attacking head on, you change tactics and deploy a 'KILL FROM WITHIN' [internal] operation. "
"For we are opposed around the world by a monolithic and ruthless conspiracy that relies primarily on covert means for expanding its sphere of influence–on infiltration instead of invasion, on subversion instead of elections, on intimidation instead of free choice, on guerrillas by night instead of armies by day. It is a system which has conscripted vast human and material resources into the building of a tightly knit, highly efficient machine that combines military, diplomatic, intelligence, economic, scientific and political operations."