power by managing to deploy troops so quickly into Kazakhstan and helping to restore order. And we've never really seen the collective security treaty organization, the regional body, the region's answer to NATO in action. So I like this before, as so-called peacekeepers anyway. But we've certainly seen it. It appeared to be successful. So that's a good projection of hard power, military power, at a time when Putin wants to show himself as the strongman as he saber rattles over Ukraine. But also, I think it's important to note that Russia also managed to project it soft power. It might seem paradoxical while it was marching around the streets of Almaty with the troops. But really, we've got Kazakhstan inviting Russia in and expressing great gratitude to Russia as being the sort of leader of this security treaty. And so we've seen that Russia can sort of project itself. Look, it's not just us aggressive towards our neighbors in the region. We have a neighbor here who likes us, who loves (34/39)
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