China will certainly be getting stronger out of this - watching what sanctions are placed and preparing to circumvent punitive measures.

I also hope that Russia gets stronger as well. I do not have anything against Russia, or Russian culture. I think it is a paranoid mistake on Putin's part to believe that 'the West' hates Russia.

But I do hate imperialist, grandiose expansionism - and a stronger Russia to me would be one that puts that attitude into the dustbin of history where it belongs.

Let Russia be Russia, let Ukraine be Ukraine, and so on, let each region be itself.

If that can happen then we need to avoid the mistake after WWI of punishing the country until it created the impetus for WWII