[mangamuscle]

Originally Posted by TheForsaken

If they were indeed certain that war was coming, then their actions genuinely confuse me.

In the words of Admiral Ackbar "It's a trap!". Still confused? How about?

"Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake." - Napoleon Bonaparte

It's so abundantly clear now that the US is only capable of bullying countries much smaller than them.

You are mistaken, the size of Russia's economy is a little bigger than that of my country (an we would have surpassed them years ago if politicians here weren't so corrupt, inept and even malicious).

There are only two things big about Russia, their territory and their nuclear arsenal. Remove the later one and their #2 spot as the worlds most powerful army would crumble.

The thing is, the best defense for Russia would have been going the japan route, becoming a modern democratic industrial powerhouse. But Putin wanted none of that and went full cronyism (like the old USSR) and now has fallen into Afghanistan 2.0, not only this war is going to take russian time, money and lives, but it gives the west the opportunity to block putin's government.

Maybe it's time for Taiwan to rethink their strategy.

My bet is that xijin ping is going to play the long game, invading an island is harder than you think and unlike russia, time is on their side, their army is improving (unlike russia who has been stagnating for years now) each year.