Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could be a match that ignites a global conflict, where an emboldened Beijing and its proxies exploit the situation to act on their own ambitions, according to China analyst and author Gordan Chang. “We didn’t think Putin was going to invade Ukraine. And so right now the world is a very different place, and we have to throw out our assumptions, and we have to start defending ourselves,” Chang recently told Epoch TV’s “Crossroads” program. The reason the military conflict in Ukraine could turn global is two-fold, according to Chang. From the Russian side, “Putin is not going to stop at Ukraine,” but will likely go after members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and destabilize the whole of Eastern Europe. Then there’s China that has largely banded itself with Russia in their mutual opposition to the United States, which will take a cue from …