Commentary Vladimir Putin went to war to keep Ukraine under Russian control, and thus ensured that Russia would fall under China’s control. The Ukraine war was a war of choice for Russia and a profound mistake as Russia is now the weaker partner in a de facto alliance with Xi Jinping’s China. The game is not worth the candle as he likely has already realized. But his decision to invade—or more accurately the Xi-Putin decision as China’s support for Russia before the war was one of its causes—affects more than Russia and Ukraine, it also does the balance of power. The classical European balance of power involved five great powers: Austria (Austria-Hungary after 1867), France, Great Britain, Prussia (later Germany after unification in 1871), and Russia. The key to success was to be in the group of three great powers against the two. This was exceedingly difficult to do, due …