I was pretty sure there was a flipflop in the book too, though. Where the narrator reported now being at war with whomever, and that they had always been at war with that party.

Yes, and the flip-flop happened within a few minutes.

But you just explained how it fits perfectly in your last comment. That’s literally the same thing that happens in the book.

Sure, but the parent comment was aimed at the western side and not at the Russians. The West did everything it could to ignore and deny Russians growing hostility because it would have been inconvenient and maybe it would go away somehow.

That is pretty much ‘the plan’ since the 90’s. Delulu is the solulu.