But what is the Russian perspective on why they decided to commit themselves to this conflict that, at the end of the day, seems to have some pretty damning effect against Putin? So Russia

has this great fear of encirclement.

And it has historically always been expanding, putting buffer states and just... sheer territory between any possible adversary and its hinterland in Moscow in the core of Russia.

And it started at least in the 1830s when Russia and Britain were kind of playing the great game in Central Asia.

And it turns out that, you know, history tells us that Russia was able to take all that territory that, you know, the UK defended essentially India and was fine with that.

And Russia would have taken everything except it ran up against China.

And that's where the border was established.

What does that mean for the world and how do you see this dynamic playing out?