Memo to anyone who believes that Russia is a bigger threat to the U.S. and the West in general than China is: Russia is reportedly now asking China for help with weapons and materials for its war against Ukraine.  Think about that.

Second memo to anyone who believes that Russia is a bigger threat to the U.S. and the West in general than China: China's economy is many times the size of Russia's. It also manufactures much of the world's modern consumer goods.  And it currently dictates much of what the rest of the world can manufacture because it manufactures many of the computer chips and other necessities for doing so.  Moreover, it is buying up land and ports around the world and otherwise positioning itself to dictate to other nations with its staggering-in-scope Belt and Road Initiative.

Third memo to anyone who believes that Russia is a bigger threat to the U.S. and the West in general than China is: Though perhaps less brutish than Russia's, China's leaders are cleverer, more forward-looking, and in some ways more diabolical in plotting their nation's future vis-à-vis everyone else on Earth.

Sickeningly, it is already clear that the winner of the Russia-Ukraine War will be...China.  Perhaps even more nauseatingly, the country that will ultimately weather the COVID-19 pandemic in the best shape structurally and economically will almost certainly be...China, the nation that recklessly, if not deliberately, loosed the plague on the world.

Western nations appear to have been somewhat awakened to harsh external realities by Putin's assault on Ukraine.  That is a good thing, such as it is.  Russia under Putin is hostile to our interests and sensibilities.  However, if the same Western nations cannot pry themselves from their recent obsessions with "climate change," "gender fluidity," and "preferred pronouns" long enough to mount a sober, united, and sustained challenge to the erstwhile Middle Kingdom's current designs on world hegemony, their goose will be cooked.  And that is not an ancient Chinese secret.

But perhaps there is still hope.  For, as Sun Tzu said, "Victory comes from finding opportunities in problems."

For those of us living in Western countries currently beset by problems, the next chance we get to elect leaders who care more about the survival of their nations than they do about appearing "woke" will be an opportunity not to be squandered.

Photo credit: Roman Kubansky, CC BY-SA 4.0 license.