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Notes -
NATO only needs to deter Great Power competition. Arguably, only Russia really (US has other alliances for China).
And I think it has done a sufficient job bleeding Russia for a country that isn't even in NATO that Putin's gains here will be minimal. Even if he wins, Ukraine dies on the street and Russia will be bleeding fast in the ambulance. Good outcome for the US.
Maybe the American public will freak out over "not winning" (a war that most probably expected Ukraine to lose handily at the outset) but autocrats are going to look at the situation and I doubt it looks appealing.
The supposedly "brain-dead" alliance hasn't agreed on everything, but it has worked surprisingly well for a nation that Obama and co. wrote off in 2014.
Is China supportive? The reporting on this has been mixed at best but I've seen some stuff that essentially boils down to "sure, we're allied against the West. But this is your boondoggle"
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