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In realpolitik terms, there was no realistic scenario where better relations with Russia would make much of a difference in a US-China conflict. Such a war would be dominated by sea + air power, which Russia is anemic in. Russia would be helpful in terms of sending raw materials to China, so having them embargo China during a conflict would indeed be useful for the US, but there was never a realistic chance for US-Russia relations to be good enough to where Russia would consider that rather than simply profiting and staying neutral while continuing to trade. Even if Russia joins China relatively explicitly, how much of a difference would that make? It might help China with marginal things like initial missile stockpiles and intelligence gathering. Those aren't nothing, but they'd be highly unlikely to turn the tables. And they'd be well worth the trouble if it meant the US had a stronger European contingent of allies to call on, even if they're mostly limited to just economic sanctions against China.
Well, first off, Russia is not anemic in sea power. They are anemic in surface sea power. Their submarines are quite good, and they have more than a few of them. Which ties in to my next point –
You wave off "intelligence gathering", but intelligence gathering is VERY important. US intelligence is quite possibly the difference from Russia consolidating control over Hostomel and not. Without the US SIGINT apparatus, there actually was a decent chance the opening Russian bumrush of Ukraine worked. Intelligence wins wars.
And it's arguably even more important in a conflict dominated by sea + air power. A conflict where Russia is giving China targeting data on our aircraft carriers (the way they are allegedly supporting the Houthis now) potentially puts the United States in a position where it can just meekly accept that China will be able to target our ships or attack Russian assets. It's infinitely better to not have to face that dilemma. It's nearly certain we will be faced with it now.
Being able to locate carriers means you can target them; being able to target them means you can sink them; being able to sink them might be decisive.
So, even without even a situation where China and Russia go to open war jointly and Russia does something like "invading Estonia" to tie up US air power in Europe, or "sinking US ships preparing to transit Suez or Panama" to cripple US attempts to surge naval assets to the Pacific, I think Russia could actually be not only important but actually decisive in a conflict.
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