Kotkin is one of the very few liberal historians who doesn’t completely regurgitate batshit insane takes about the Soviet Union from the Cold War era (For instance he acknowledges that Lenin’s testament was a hoax).

However, his takes on politics are so utterly naïve that one might think he’s some kind of Harvard MBA failson rather than an actual historian. I remember during a conversation a couple of years ago where he basically states that America will win the new Cold War because they have the capability of “self correction” that China does not. Because choosing between two demented racists in an election is apparently “self correction”. This article is more of the same. The Russia-Chinese vassal theory is literally believed by no one and is ludicrous when you consider that America literally controls Europe’s foreign policy. Everything else sounds like it came from redditors in early 2022.