Typically what happens is that it takes a crisis of some sort to accelerate the formation of relationships and overcome barriers to collective action, and Ukraine has provided that crisis for the autocratic coalition, causing Russia to quadruple down on its ties with other revisionist powers as a response to economic sanctions and diplomatic isolation from the West.

causalpending

Speaker

Hal Brands

Evidence Quote

Ukraine has provided that crisis for the autocratic onun and what became clear pretty early in the conflict was that Russia was going to pay a real price for invading Ukraine... and the Russian Elite Putin namely decided that the answer to this was to quadruple down on Russia's ties with other revisionist powers

Source

'We’re Living In a Pre-War World. Great Power War Is No Longer Unthinkable.' | Ep. 49 Hal BrandsDecoding Geopolitics Podcast with Dominik Presl
Created: 8/11/2026, 7:56:42 AM

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