Exactly, and this means Russia has to walk a tightrope of avoiding WW3 while still achieving its objectives through force.
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China to give least developed countries zero-tariff treatment - Global Times
(www.globaltimes.cn)
precisely
oh sure, will do next time
That's what I'm guessing. Hopefully they suffer an outbreak of common sense here.
BBC actually has a decent explainer.
If Putin's description is correct, the missile is at the upper edge of the definition of hypersonic, and few things can achieve this.
Speed is important because the faster a missile travels, the quicker it gets to target. The quicker it gets to target, the less time a defending military has to react.
A ballistic missile generally gets to target by following an arcing path up into the atmosphere and a similar one down towards its destination.
But as it descends, it picks up speed and gains kinetic energy, and more kinetic energy gives it more options. This allows it to manoeuvre down towards the target - by performing some kind of defending wriggle - that makes interception by surface-to-air missile systems (such as Ukraine's US-built Patriot defence missile system) particularly difficult.
Pretty much what I'm thinking. It's also worth noting that the US sees China as the main adversary, so Europe is losing its strategic relevance.
I look at it as a way to justify to have one set of rules for the west and another for the rest. The west not having to hold itself to the same standard as its adversaries is what the whole rules based world order is all about.
mostly to laugh at them
That's the whole problem here. If Russia does nothing then NATO will say it was a bluff and continue to escalate. If Russia retaliates then they frame it as Russia escalating and NATO having to stand firm in face of nuclear blackmail and whatever. So, regardless of how Russia responds there's almost guaranteed to be more escalation.
That's my hope as well, unfortunately they're also scared and desperate which tends to be a bad combination. At this point, the empire is like a rabid dog backed into a corner.