Putin has the upper hand right now in the Ukraine.

Putin has created the illusion he has the upper hand in Ukraine. He doesn't. Somehow he has a hold on Trump and can completely get Trump to buy into some loser positions, and Dope echoes all of the propaganda. This isn't the hundred years war, all we need is another year or two and we've got Putin hurting. Or we could pull a Putin on Putin and put plutonium in his vodka. :)

Putin has these dreams of rebuilding the empire that a lot of Russians share. They feel the loss of their position as one of the great powers. The Chinese take the break up of the Russian empire as a big lesson and are in a semi-expansionist phase themselves. Unwilling to put up with Muslim guerilla terrorfare, the Uyghurs are in education camps - before the terrorfare sets in. They concocted a nine dash line fiction for expansionist purposes.

Putin moved on Crimea, and then moved Russians in and the Muslims out. This expansionism will not stop. If Ukraine falls, Putin or his successor will move on the smaller countries, they've already infiltrated some of them. So there's a constant anti-democracy drumbeat that seems to catch the poorer uneducated amongst us, so we have to get them on democracy's side and lock them up. Putin appeals to the white christian supremacist in our country, but very few move there. Putin plays to them.