because he would have to sustain this high level of readiness all the way through almost the entire month of february. the chinese probably didn't ask putin not to invade right now because they don't have to. i mean, vladimir putin knows full well that, you know, president xi would be mad to have russia distracting the world from the olympics during that timeframe of february 2nd to 22nd when the olympics are being held in china again. so i think he knows that he either has to go now or later. as said, there are constraints on that. there are some other weather constraints. but the most important thing to consider is whether there is still any likelihood that he won't use military force. and i think that we have seen very little sign of that. he does not appear likely to back down. he has only escalated the situation. i wouldn't say the door is closed because the way vladimir putin operates, he lines everything up so he can take either option and lots of different military options, and we won't really know until he