on the united states. he has to show he can keep winning. >> neil: how much has china changed the equation here with this romance that the two leaders were striking up last week and now talk that china will be the funding backstop for russia for as long as it takes. >> well, i think on the surface, there's a warming relationship between russia and china. what vladimir putin got was a public relations village photo op. china is absolutely taking advantage of a beating and bloody's russia that is extremely isolated on the world stage and has nowhere to ship oil and gas. china is taking that on at reduced prices and shipping manufactured goods to russia. and china wants to straddle the relationships and not lose the commercial relationships with the west on which china is so deeply relies after the covid