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There are a lot of options. The most successful option I've ever seen was the international response to the US invasion of Iraq - a strongly worded letter and let them wreck themselves slowly with constant wars. The US is being forced into a more pacifist stance because they can't afford to finance their own aggression and this Chinese are reminding them that peace and prosperity are linked. The USSR already collapsed because Russia couldn't afford to control Eastern Europe so we already know that Russia can't handle that sort of expansion.

The sensible thing would be to pull NATO back to more reasonable boundaries and leave the Russians alone. Maybe ally with them to oppose the Chinese or support India against China. Point them East instead of forcing them to militarise to the West.

What actually happened only really makes sense in context of the famous and rather concerning Trump-Biden debate. If that is the quality of the US's diplomatic head then it is easy to explain why the US policy went so far astray.

Russia has no interest in the far East, apart from the natural resources it is an empty wilderness. They want control of the populations of Eastern Europe again, hence the invasion of Ukraine.

Without NATO more countries than Ukraine and Georgia would be at risk of war with Russia.

Russia signed no less than four agreements over 50 years reiterating that countries can join their own alliances. That's in addition to the commitments to territorial integrity of Ukraine.

Russia is not going to ally with the US against China even if we let them rape and murder Ukraine to their black hearts content. They want to dominate Europe and share the values of our authoritarian adversaries.

The West never forced Russia to do anything. When the USSR collapsed we offered Russia the opportunity to be allies and partners but instead they chose violence. So fuck 'em, now they'll get nothing.

The sensible thing would be to bleed Russia to death. Regardless of whether they manage to hold on to some part of Ukraine for a while, Russia's ability to threaten their other neighbors and project conventional power beyond their borders is being rapidly, irreversibly ground down. Their low birth rate, and declines in their educational system and industrial base, are going to take them off the board as significant players for decades. Most of their major infrastructure and industrial plant is either a remnant of Soviet times or was built largely by foreign experts who have now left for good; there just aren't many young Russians left who still know how to build anything.

Russia has nothing that we need. China can be contained without any help from Russia. China isn't self sufficient in energy or food, and are facing their own demographic time bomb. So it's enough to keep them bottled up behind the first island chain and prevent them from securing their sea lines of communication. Keep the pressure on and eventually they'll have another revolution or civil war; those have been a frequent occurrence throughout Chinese history. As for India, sure let's have good relations with them but they're going to pursue their own interests and have zero interest in being sucked into some kind of entangling alliance.

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