Are We Missing Subtle Hints That China Wants World War III?
There is a new balance that we can achieve coming out of this conflict that returns the world to peace, but only if our expectations are commensurate with the hand that we are holding.
Make no mistake about it, we missed many of the tea leaves that Russia left the world over the last decade, prior to its invasion of Ukraine.
Regardless of how you feel about the invasion, it’s tough to ignore that there were warning signs leading up to it. Namely, Russia had taken exception with formation of NATO, the military alliance that was initially created “to blockade the Soviet Union's growing sphere of communist influence” after World War II.
NATO had had expanded its boundaries from 1999 to 2020, adding 14 new members, “including many former Soviet-controlled countries,” WTHR wrote last month.
Russia took offense to this, seeing it as a way for NATO to limit its influence globally and, in 2021, NATO member states expressed their intentions to take in Ukraine. Putin - whether you agree with him or not - felt like he had to take action.
And not only did we miss many of the tea leaves leading up to the invasion – until, of course, weeks before it happened and Russia was literally lining up troops on the border – we also misread the tea leaves regarding how Russia would react to economic sanctions.
The consequences of this will be profound, as I wrote about in my article Monday.