Quote:
Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA
And I'm not digging back through this thread to see how much this has been addressed, I'll just mention the question my child msgd me a little while ago.
"If you're China, do you take advantage of this situation? And how much?"
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If Putin didn't have express permission from Xi, I'd be astonished. Russia moved troops into attack position just as the Olympics were ending. Putin would even give up Crimea tomorrow if Xi blinked.
Russia will be mostly cut off from the Western world financially today. Without China's support, that would be devastating. With China's support, they can weather that as well as Europe can weather the recession that's about to start (and likely reaches the US soon enough).
Reading the WaPo analysis... yeah, Putin is on that track - he said as much. The question is what happens when the rest of the world realizes its dependence on China has a cost. We've been happy to close our eyes for a long time. They just got opened, I hope.
Meanwhile, Trump... not helpful, dude... this has been in the works a lot longer than you think and has very little to do with you. In fact, you might be dismayed in just how little you matter in the world. Be an American and support your country, please. I get it, you don't like Biden. He's still our president and this is a tough one.
So, how long until the Baltic states are threatened? Finland/Sweden - their gamble of neutrality above all else? I think that has more to do with the world's ability to start thinking about an alternative to letting China own everyone than anything else. And how do we react when China takes Taiwan?
I don't think anyone can parse all this right now. I really thought Putin would stay in the east of Ukraine and the troop buildup was there only to keep Kyiv from defending the east. This is moving faster than I thought possible.