....Russia is really trying to build an alternative world dominance model and has allied with another wanna-be world dominator, China. Yes, the foundations of international relations, laid after 1945, are seriously shattered....
Are you are aware that world dominance has been the US active policy since 1900?
The Soviet-union only entered that stage after May 1945 - via keeping occupying liberated NAZI and friends territory after May 1945 in order (from their point of view) to counter US European dominance. Finland had cut it's "alliance" with Hitler (and Finnish units even attacked the Wehrmacht) - Stalin never occupied Finland, but accepted their neutrality. The only real wars that the Soviet-union started and fought from 1939 - 1990 were the one with Finland, the Baltic states and Afghanistan. (whilst the war aginst the Baltic states would deserve a separate discussion).
From the 1950's onward the Soviet-union started to counter US world dominance via supporting Communist ideology friendly leaders and countries - e.g. Middle-East, Africa, Asia and Central America. Obviously communism and the Soviet-union was preferred by 3rd world countries - because almost every "liberated" former Colony or newly emerging country became Communist or Soviet friendly.
Ronald Reagan after the US world dominance decline upon Vietnam - declared that Communism needs to be eradicated - simply because it had endangered the US world dominance to a critical point. Since then the US directly and actively undertook numerous wars to re-ensure US world dominance.
Putin's "vision" isn't about world dominance - but Russia's dominance towards it's bordered countries (immediate neighbors) to counter US dominance.
China only started to emerge as a world economic power from 2010 onward. They haven't had a single war since 1980 till today.
And only after Dumb Trump emerged, the "idea and propaganda" towards China was born, being an
economic threat to the US world dominance and pointing out China's growing military strength (which naturally comes with it's economic growth).
It is a fact that Dumb Trumps policy made Russia and China to appear as allies - well they totally are not - they simply cooperate on economic and military technological issues to both parties benefits. And both oppose US dominance in their immediate neighborhood. e.g. joint naval exercises.
And fact is that neither Russia (e.g. Ukraine or the Baltic Republics )-(apart from Alaska) nor China, are in the immediate neighborhood of the USA.
So fact is, the USA is the "wanna-be world dominator" NOT Russia and NOT China.
Fact also is that China since 1948 till today has never instigated any proxy wars in order to weaken or to draw the USA or a US ally into a war.
And again Putin attacked the Ukraine - just as the USA attacked Iraq (WMD) and others, defying the UN-Charter. China has never done so since 1951. (the Vietnam-China 3-4 weeks border war - was not in defiance of the UN-Charter since Vietnam had attacked a Chinese ally and persecuted hundreds of thousands of ethnic Vietnamese Chinese, thus causing a further escalation toward the humanitarian crisis - aka boat-people. In other words, aside from Vietnam, China has never attacked any sovereign nation in the past 71 years. Making it by far, the most peaceful large nation and superpower this world has ever seen.
If you want to discuss about China - you are welcomed to the China defense section - otherwise let's please stick to Russia and NATO in this thread.