IMO, Putin is looking in the wrong direction - West at Ukraine, when he should be looking East at Siberia. The most important under-reported fact about Russia is that Siberia is becoming arable. To the South of Siberia is a nation that feeds over 1.3 billion people with 7% arable land and imports - China. Siberia will become arable in decades; the ever-hungry Chinese will see Siberia as a new food source and a place where Climate-change-affected Chinese can escape. In a battle between China and Russia who will win? China, of course. Russia cannot defeat a comparatively weak Ukraine. The PLA is a powerful military force designed to defeat the US in a conventional war. Since both states are nuclear-armed, nukes will not be used as China's population is spread out and one nuke on Moscow and St. Petersburg is the ballgame for Russia.
PS: The "map" from New Lines Magazine is incomprehensible. Even on enlargement, the right- side panel is unreadable. As it is intriguing, please clarify.
Merry Christmas,
Peter H. Dohan, MD