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[Cormoran]

If Russia and America decimate each other’s forces, neither one wins. China does. Putin is smart enough to know this; he and Xi are playing the same game, displays of strength in strategically untouchable locations to send a message to the rest of the world that America can’t or won’t interfere with their actions. That puts them both in a position of strength where they can make favorable trade agreements and undermine American alliances without actually getting into a conflict. All the would-be great powers have learned the lessons of WW1 and WW2 - namely, that the aggressors turn into the biggest losers, the defenders also lose in terms of everything but saving face, and the ones who stay neutral and step in once the conflict is already done become the winners for the next century.