By the Humblest Things

Two weeks. If Ukraine holds out that long, I'm guessing we might see the war over by that point.

Based on the rate of new cases, China's current COVID spike certainly looks as though authorities have lost control of the situation. As a chaotic neutral half-man I would be remiss in not pointing out the ultimate inadequacy of authoritarian control, which never provides the safety it promises in return for subservience. But, more importantly, it will take two weeks to see how many more have been infected by the current outbreak, and with enough coughing China may find itself no longer fit to invade Taiwan or anyone else... for the moment.

If China no longer needs a distraction, we may see a week of stalling from Russia, and given there was never any gain for Russia itself in this idiotic massacre in Ukraine, Tsar Putin might even suspiciously rediscover his magnanimity and agree to some propaganda-laden peace resolution painting him as both a hero and a martyr... for the moment.

If so, World War 3 might get postponed until the Chinese re-position themselves for an offensive in another year or two, at which point Russia will suspiciously rediscover some dire threat on its borders and invade... maybe Ukraine or Georgia again? Maybe one of the Baltic states? Whatever makes the Chinese enslaving nation after nation seem the lesser evil.