China is basicaly just a factory for the West, and Russia is just an oil/gas oligarchy. Neither country has the type of intellectual, creative and productive strength and resiliency of Western democracy and capitalism. The combined gdp of NATO countries ($42 trillion) is more than double that of China and Russia combined. NATO's military is the most advanced and huge, and could be much larger if need be, due to the economic and technological superiority of the West relative to the anti-West.



Russia in particular has a dysfunctional kleptocratic top-heavy economy with a weak gdp ($2 trillion) and high inflation. The tougher sanctions can cripple their economy and send it into a tailspin. China may offer some help to them but recent comments coming out of Beijing condemned the invasion of Ukraine. China, again as the factory of the world, does not want any global instability - especially fears the wrath of the West that it relies on as consumers, and I highly doubt would ever go 'all in' on latching itself to crappy Russia.

they speak. There are all types of of intertwined histories countries have. Most modern day Ukrainians view themselves as Ukrainian, with a distinct identity and culture apart from Russia.

Anyone who thinks Putin cares about 'protecting ethnic Russians' or 'is afraid of NATO' or other such issues is deluded. He will accept nothing less than Ukraine cleansing itself of Western influences and becoming a puppet state of Russia. And note his opinion has shifted around on this, as in 2002 he stated that Ukraine was a free country and could join NATO if it so chose.

threats to Western democracy, and both men have to be strongly opposed. Appeasement does not work. It is our social media, our big corporations etc that allow this. It is our gov't that has been too weak on Putin over the past 20 years, appeasing him hoping it would make him go away, but has only emboldened him. We should expand and strengthen NATO - Ukraine and Georgia should've been members a long time ago. If Ukraine falls it would be a terrible day for the West.

to its national security or borders. The opposite is true. It is a threat to and has breached the borders of its neighbors and is waging active campaigns to install pro-Russian/anti-NATO leaders across the globe.

NATO should be expanded and strengthened, and Ukraine should've been a member a long time ago.

Ukraine is scary to him because Ukraine has shown that (despite their issues w/corruption) they have what it takes to be a Western style democracy. If Ukraine can succeed and be properous and free - then Russians may want the same thing - which could spell the end to Putin and his oligarchs.

The West is making a grave mistake in appeasing Putin (and Xi, but China is heavily dependent on Western consumers in a way Russia is not) who only respects military force. NATO should've built up forces in that region once Putin moved on Crimea. By doing little in response Putin has become emboldened. He messed with our elections in 2016 and helped to install Trump. Putin has never paid any real price for these actions and thus continues on.

was very good:

mirrors our approach to Putin, who is an existential threat to liberal democracy and is actively waging war against us.

Putin got away with stealing Crimea and installing Trump - and has become emboldened.

We should be expanding and strengthening NATO, supporting pro-Western movements and countering Russian cyberwarfare. Thugs like Putin only understand dominance, and we should be forcing him into a subordinate and weakened position. Simply ignoring and/or appeasing him is not an option... it's a zero sum game.

and not in any way a legitimate regime. We should expand and strengthen NATO and support pro-Western governments - and force Putin into a subordinate position.

Just as our media normalized Trump the West has made a grievous mistake in normalizing Putin - a KGB thug and dictator who is waging war on the West.

The West has appeased Putin for far too long, who annexed Crimea and then interfered in our 2016 elections which gave us Trump and a RW Supreme Court for the next 20 years.

Putin is an anti-Western white supremacist thug like Trump is, an existential threat to liberal democracy.

We should be expanding and strengthening NATO - power/dominance is the only thing thugs understand.

We should also be strongly supporting pro-democracy movements inside of Russian, eg Navalny.

what about ex Sen. Claire McCaskill, both of whom have been very critical of Merrick Garland.

Tribe was on MSNBC the other night and he (his words, not mine) said he think the DOJ has 'rolled over and played dead' when it comes to prosecuting Trump who should be indicted for sedition. Tribe said there is more than enough evidence to do so.

Face it - Garland is another Mueller - in that he values institutions more than justice or 'appearing political'.

We have Trump running around admitting he wanted to overturn the election, fake elector schemes, pressuring the VP, etc.

If this is not sedition (and treason) then what is?