You got it wrong and I would say there are more than one bad guys, it's the smaller nations without a strong millitary which suffers loses because it will be an ally of one of the bad country and this is what we have seen now with Ukraine. Don't even assume that Russia or China or USA will go against each other in a direct battle as it would always be proxy wars wherein they don't suffer.
Russia isn't waging a proxy war against Ukraine, they are attacking them directly, and suffering heavy losses. I have no doubt China would do the same.
The USA is a
democracy and as such we can't get away with sending large numbers of our kids to needless slaughter.