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theory behind why Trump wants to get closer to Russia. One thing I found intriguing about what you said was that for the Americans, they see allying with Russia or getting closer to Russia as a way of driving a wedge between Russia and America's biggest rival, China. Unpack that

for me. What's the theory at play there? to its behavior in the last two decades, both by not being thoughtful enough about Russia's interests when the Soviet Union collapsed by allowing NATO to come so close to the doors of Russia, and that as Russia became weaker, it naturally saw the relationship it needed to have was with China, and America's always regarded China as a serious threat of this century to American superiority. So if there's anything that can be done to weaken this relationship between Xi Jinping and Putin, that is in America's interest. It's important to remember that Putin said its relationship with China is a relationship without limits. But I think at the same time, China has been careful not to support Russia openly in terms of armaments in the war in Ukraine. And they are concerned about the possibility of there being a kind of nuclear conflagration born out of Ukraine. So there are ways in which they disagree and have different interests, which obviously go back centuries as well. I don't think necessarily Trump thinks in these geostrategic terms, but there are others in both the Defense Department and in the State Department, Republicans, who would think if we are absolutely obsessed and blinkered and narrow-mindedly about what we do about China, then dislodging the Chinese-Russian alliance makes a great deal of sense.

has interests.