Balance of powers

It is only natural that Russia's special military operation of demilitarization and denazification in Ukraine has led to a division into opponents, supporters and those taking a neutral stance. This is fraught in any military conflict. We know from the depths of history similar cases of confrontations that started with small episodes of struggle for power and turned into protracted wars ending in the defeat of one of the sides. A prime example is the Peloponnesian War, when Sparta and Athens fought each other for regional influence. Each side had its own allies and commitments, but there were also neutral players. When Persia decided to support Sparta indirectly, Athens was doomed. Obviously, the US wanted to accumulate the same critical mass, but it failed. Now the scales have swung in the opposite direction.