It is the shock and surprise that should really perk one's ears up: indications of the first real breaches in the old cracked and fissured order. I recall the shock and surprise of Trump's election, which would reverberate both domestically and around the world, and which would reorganize ideas of what is possible in the domestic politics of a hegemon and so on down the pecking order.
And now we have the fresh shock and surprise of the global community (well maybe not the damned neocons, but that is a different story), looking on at an embittered and gangsterish Putin, striking fear in the hearts of his allies and enemies alike, breaking away and marching forward, muttering something like: "we're not going to take this anymore, you just gotta grab it and take it."
How many broken and humiliated - or even strengthening and ascendant - empires are looking on at this fiasco and thinking silently to themselves, "yes yes very much so," quietly gaming out their next moves? I can think of a few.
