I think I have figured out the way the world really works.  The West, Russia, and China are three mafia families.  The American, Russian, and Chinese presidents are the dons, the intelligence agencies are their consiglieri, and the bureaucrats are their capi.

Like every mafia family, they run a protection racket, producing nothing for anyone, but collecting envelopes with their "taste" from the productive members of their populations.  Failure to deliver the "taste" to the mafia hierarchy has the usual consequence for mere citizens: intimidation and violence.  The only thing the citizens get from this arrangement is "protection," but that protection is really nothing but a conditional promise that the mafia will not shoot the citizen in the kneecaps.

This paradigm explains the interactions among the West, Russia, and China in the present crisis.  If both Miranda Devine's Laptop from Hell and Peter Schweizer's Red-Handed expose the compromising corruption of Biden and his colleagues, surely far more kompromat, in undeniable detail, is in the hands of Putin and Xi.  One imagines their glee at (if not complicity in) the stolen election of 2020.  After that, the Washington don became a player.

One imagines the conversation among the three dons in an isolated parking lot in Passaic at 3 A.M.  "Joe, this kompromat on you is all coming out if we don't get exactly what we want: Ukraine and Taiwan."  It's a big problem for Joe.  His mafia owns those neighborhoods.  They have been reliable producers for the Washington Family for years.  And now the Moscow and Beijing Families want to take them over, just like that?  But Joe can't say no outright.  They've got the kompromat.  They'll rat.  So what to do?

Putin strikes first.  He moves in on the Ukraine neighborhood.  Biden can't afford a straight-up gangland war, but he hits back with sanctions and arms supplies to Ukraine.  He creates chaos.  And probably profitable chaos.  Those missiles going to Ukraine; no doubt Joe can count on Zelensky for a "taste."  And, of course, for every hundred missiles shipped, "shrinkage" is to be expected.  (Later, they will be available for sale in an abandoned warehouse in Rutherford.)  Hey, there are a lot of capi who need their "taste."  And let's not forget the arms manufacturers.  For all those new orders, they're going to owe a "taste," big time.

Now Xi's thinking, if moving on Taiwan is going to be this much of a mess, is it worth it?  He says to Putin, "Oh, cumpà, Joe's getting out of hand.  Do we drop him?  Release the kompromat?"

Putin: "Trouble is, then we get what's worse, that cackling cretina Kamala."

Xi: "But what if Joe slaps sanctions on the Beijing Family?  I ain't puttin' up with that."

Putin: "She might do that, too.  Trying to look tough.  Didja ever think of that?"

Xi: "So whatta we do?"

Putin: "Give my boys a few more weeks to wrap up Ukraine.  The sanctions don't hurt the Moscow Family much, but they hurt the Washington Family a lot."

Xi: "So you're saying in the November elections the Washington Family will off the boss."

Putin (grinning): "And we'll help them with the kompromat."

Xi: "Then what do we get?"

Putin: "A divided house.  It cannot stand."

Xi: "You know, I've never liked elections."

Putin: "You said a mouthful."

And where, dear citizens of America, Russia, or China, do you come in?  Shaddup, pay higher prices for everything, and just keep delivering your "taste."

Graphic credit: vintagelee, Pixabay license.