Russia is about to (further) invade Ukraine. Thousands will die.

Why? Russia only looses and they know this. They would also be firing on their own separatists in the east.

So called "separatists" are also part of Russian forces. With all the rotations of separatist commanders from Russian "ex-military" over years, I would not call them separatists at all.

Like they lost after annexing Crimea?

I still cannot fully grok the answer to this single simple question:

What’s Russia gaining by invading Ukraine?

A buffer state between NATO. An outlet for nationalistic growth. A distraction for aging western countries already experiencing governance issues. A use for military money already spent. Europe broadly is unprepared for an extended conflict against Russia. There are lots of reasons…

The same as Crimea; Putin thinks he can get away with it.

If Russia goes at war with the US, I believe China would hardly remain neutral to them and allies. They wouldn't necessarily use military force, but today's already difficult economic relations would be damaged even further.

I believe, that China has no territorial claims on Chinas biggest economical partner US, but China has historical claims on territory of Russia. In a long game, China is waiting for Russia to become weak(just like Russia attacked Ukraine when it was weak), to claim(without fight) what is rightfully Chinese and what was stolen from them. So far, Chinese are getting all the resources from Russia and they will continue getting them even more in case of conflict. If Russia goes to war, it weakens itself - all according to Sun-Tzu teachings and in any case China is winner - it takes time, but the way is more important than short goals. Look on a globe and think of China as expansionists - the only best territorial expansion route to them is into Russia and Kazakhstan. It is a dream come true scenarion, that Russia is trying to be ally - or perhaps they realise, that this is their option.

Why would China be involved in this at all? This war disrupts Chinese non-military takeover of Silk Road territories, where they are dominant economical force already.

The only losers in this play are Russians, where only "brightest" of them think of such crazy scenario, that you are proposing. People in a way do not differ from lemmings - even millions of them can be wrong on their way down from cliff. But, while they are running amok, they have a goal - for that moment.

Because things aren't always neatly separable. That's geopolitics for you.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-02-11/u-s-sees-...

Such a split personality about Russia!

On one hand it is 'a gas station masquerading as a country', 'Russia doesn't make anything important', or 'has a GDP only the size of Italy', or 'anything outside Moscow or St Petersburg is backward and rural without proper toilets', or another of many other US put-downs about Russia.

Then on the other hand 'Russia can overthrow the US electoral system', 'Trump is Russia's puppet', 'Russia will bring down the US electrical grid', 'Russia can destroy the US by spying everywhere', or today's panic: 'Russia could hit U.S. chip industry by withholding important materials', etc, etc, etc.

Make up your minds. Is Russia a 100 lb. weakling, or is Russia a 500 lb. bully? If it's a weakling why so frightened of it? If it's a bully, how can the the US be 'Number One'?

Russia's a bit of a failed state, squandering economic opportunity for its citizens and opportunities to develop through trade.

Russia is also militarily powerful and with enough resources and cleverness to take everyone else down the drain with them.

This is a particularly bad combination-- being successful or weak takes away much of your menace to your neighbors... being failed and strong is the scariest combo.

> Make up your minds. Is Russia a 100 lb. weakling, or is Russia a 500 lb. bully? If it's a weakling why so frightened of it? If it's a bully, how can the the US be 'Number One'?

It's a 100 lb. bully, who can nevertheless go as far as a 500 lb. one if not stopped.

It’s because of reasons and statistics like your former examples that Russia engages in activities like your latter examples. They are not at all mutually exclusive.