Andrew Bolt: Vladimir Putin’s big blunder fires up the West

When Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping signed a joint pact to carve up the world, they believed the West was too weak but these two thugs have just made their biggest mistake.

Isn’t it great to see real bastards get smacked? Ukraine has punched Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping in the face and wiped off their smirks.

Boy, these two thugs have just made their biggest mistake.

Just four weeks ago, Russian president Putin and Chinese dictator Xi signed a joint pact swearing there were “no limits” to their alliance.

What they’d just done, on the opening day of the Beijing Winter Olympics, was agree to carve up the world. China backed Russia’s claims over Ukraine; and Russia backed China’s claims over Taiwan – the next war in their plan for world domination.

And both agreed the US was no longer top dog: “A trend has emerged towards redistribution of power in the world”.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping thought they would rule the world but they have just lost massively. Picture: AFP

They figured the West was now too weak. Too dependent on Russian gas and oil, and Chinese exports.

So three weeks later, with China covering his back, Putin sent his tanks into Ukraine.

What a colossal blunder. This might rank with Napoleon’s march into Russia.

The Ukrainians have fought like heroes. They’ve destroyed hundreds of tanks, bogging down the Russian advance.

Yes, Russia may still “conquer” Ukraine with its massive army, but Ukrainians have shown that army is disorganised, and shattered Putin’s fantasy that Russia could just install a puppet regime and then leave. Russia can now “win” only with extreme brutality that will make its name stink in history.

Russia and China have lost massively.

Russia has shocked the West into rediscovering its unity and love of freedom. Russia is now an international pariah. Its economy is doomed, its rouble near worthless. Cut off from world banking and losing trade, Russia’s future under Putin is to become subservient to China – a Mussolini’s Italy to Hitler’s Germany.

The Ukrainians have fought like heroes, destroying hundreds of tanks, bogging down the Russian advance.

China, too, has been mauled by tacitly backing Russia’s invasion.

The West – plus powers like Japan and India – now sees with total clarity what a Chinese world order looks like, with its contempt for freedom.

It also sees the danger of being too economically dependent on a tyranny – and of literally sending it money to make bombs.

Australia and others will now steer their trade instead to other democracies, and blunt China’s influence. Germany will not be the only country in the West to announce it will now ramp up spending on defence.

China and Russia thought they’d rule the world. Instead, they’ve turned the civilised world against them like never before, and found there’s more fight in the West than even we expected.