And that's where we fundamentally disagree, i see this conflict as a done deal, so I'm concerning myself with what comes after it, and I'm not seeing many good options. Majority of scenarios push Russia and China uncomfortably close together. I am not a fan of China or communism in it's current implementation. This would be a terrible outcome for everyone in the free world, so I'm dumbfounded why US tried to snatch UA out of RU sphere of influence with soft power and their freedom cookies. The outcome for EU is pretty gloom, and it's hard to believe that it's coincidental
From the creators of a fiction novel "Russia's economy will get stronger under sanctions".
Russia couldn't do shit before sanctions, couldn't build up it's economy (other than selling hydrocarbons); couldn't establish this magic union with China, Iran, or Eritrea; couldn't make neighboring countries love it. But now at war and walled off from the rest of the world, yeah it will do all those things very successfully LOL. Well, the good news is that you'll run out of glue you're sniffing at some point.
Russia is not a
world power anymore. It doesn't have a "sphere of influence". It has a bunch of territories and nations that it plundered over the centuries. It has a gnome dictator at the head of a corrupt government and a dysfunctional army. I'm struggling to think of anything else of any significance. Natural resources won't get it far - there are a plenty of resource-rich countries in the world that have become absolute shitholes for the same reasons why Russia will join their ranks (e.g. Venezuela).