They dwell in false narratives that John Helmer terms "hopium."

Opposed to the false narratives stand myself, John Helmer, and Gilbert Doctorow, three against many.  I hesitate to speak for the three of us, but it comes down to this. The US is winning, because Putin has pissed away Washington's belief in Russia's deterrent capability by permitting a low level conflict to persist for 4.5 years, long enough for the world to conclude that Putin is not a meaningful combatant as his red lines have never been enforced.  The Russian conflict with Ukraine, which could have been easily and quickly won had Putin been prepared, which he wasn't, instead stupidly trusting the West in the Minsk Agreement, has expanded dramatically. The war front is no longer a Donbas village; it is deep inside the Russian territory. Oil production and refining have been disrupted. Shortages are appearing, and reportedly Russia is seeking to import diesel fuel and gasoline.  Two formerly neutral European countries have joined NATO, and Latvia and Finland have abandoned their long-standing position and announced willingness to host US nuclear weapons in their countries on Russia's borders.  All the while Putin maintains his foreign policy of "trust in Trump." There is no indication that the Russian leadership has any comprehension that Russia is in an existential war.

The same in Iran.  The Iranian leadership has been manipulated into fighting a war not with its enemy–Israel–but with Israel's proxy–Donald Trump.  While Americans and Iranians pound each other in a game of tit-for-tat, Israel remains untouched. The longer Iran plays this mindless game, the more time the Israeli-Americans have to  organize Iran's defeat.

Russia and China do not comprehend that, although the war on Iran is, from Israel's view, a war for Greater Israel–"from the Nile to Pakistan"–from Washington's view Iran is merely a stepping stone for attacks on Russia and China.

Once Iran falls, Washington can feed jihadists into the Russian Federation, and Washington can cut off China from oil, as President Franklin D. Roosevelt did to Japan in the 1930s, thus allowing the US into a world war that permitted FDR to make Washington the supreme world power. China thinks mistakenly that the issue is Iran, but Iran is merely a stepping stone to bring conflict to China.