If my neighbours were surrounding me, digging up trenches and setting up gun nests, I’d want them to stop expanding too.

wrong analogy. a country simply joining nato does not mean it’s actively preparing for war.

If NATO isn’t an offensive alliance meant to contain Russia, why did they refuse Russia’s entry in early 2000s, when there was no anti-west posture?

did it? it is an anti-russia organization, but a defensive one. no nato country invaded russia. russia chose to invade ukraine.

and so what if nato expands? none of them have an interest in invading russia.

so putin was never promised that nato would not expand. he has no right to complain about it.

how are material conditions in russia better than the us?

i enjoy both panda express and authentic chinese cuisine. there are some niche things like drunken shrimp eaten alive, but the vast majority of chinese people don’t eat “weird” foods like it. they eat stuff you’d typically find in a chinese restaurant in the west, which tend to be pretty authentic.

but but but china can’t innovate! /s

russia’s air defense is lacking.

the laws of physics are the same in every country. if the us can develop chips, so can china.

25 salty downvotes.

i would agree, but 30% or so of the gdp is in real estate. china cannot just lose a third of its economy.