@picofarad i think russia was always on the backburner as the baddie to go against in the future, due to resources, and because the SMO happened it kinda forced the west's hand prematurely and they just had to go all in. they just did not count on the fact that europe has been eroded since hilary killed gadaffi and merkel opened the borders. europe is "the old continent" and that also means it became poor in natural resources, which russia has.