>>64001878Russia has no allies, only subjects.
The US would have had to hand over most of Europe to funny kgb man in exchange for the newly risen Neo-Russian empire sitting out while the US and China duke it out. Setting aside the question of whether Europe would even consider tolerating this (lol no), an allied Europe and a hostile Russia is better than a temporarily satisfied Russia with the entire EU dominated by its political sphere of influence. Russia is too shitty of an ally, and too weak of an enemy since the wheels fell off the USSR.
Of course, that orange geo-strategic genius in the white house has undermined the entire reason why Europe matters if the US goes toe to toe with China. After the US has played funny games with threats of annexation, stupid trade wars and undermining the big geopolitical issue that Europe cares about (Ukraine), it now risks Europe turning around and asking "what is in it for me?" when the US wants to be backed up against China, which is a huge problem when the EU is a critical trading partner of China.