pico1180: i see comparisons being made to germany during ww2 to what is happening to russia right now. there is a key difference. prior to ukraing, russia lived in a world where they had access to generally speaking whatever they wanted.

behave nicely, get nice things.

then they invaded ukrain and they now have all their toys taken away.

does it work on a micro level? no, not really. look at north korea and iran.

dos it work on a macro level? hell yes it does! if you dont play nicely on the world stage, this is what happens to you.

fun fact, china is absent from the discussion. putins biggest cheerleader is completely absent from this.

china wants world power. they want to be on the world stage with an economy to rival all others. ironically enough they were entering into some pretty large business deals with ukrain with cell service and some other electronic deals. ukrain was what people like to refer to as an "emerging market" where china was poised to step in.

how many things do we buy from china? how important is it for china to have buyers for their exports.

now, because the world came together against putin in a way only a 21st century world could, china sitting back thinking... invading taiwan may be antagonistic to becoming a global super economy.

paly stupid games, win stupid prizes i sat to putin. it may be too late for russia and putin, but it isn't too late for any would-be bullies to take note what happens if you don't play nice on the world stage.