I’ve been kicking this concept around in my head today while doing some chores - basically using the metaphor of mafia wars to make an accessible narrative that even libs might be able to digest

maybe it can slice a few brainworms

here is my very low effort stab at doing it:

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USA is the top boss of NATO mafia that spans the entire region

they let lower bosses run the different neighborhoods, but they all know to pay homage to the top boss

some of the most loyal to the top boss will get membership in the elite NATO mafia, others do not

USSR falls via mafia tactics and a new neighborhood boss is setup but not allowed to integrate the new neighborhood into the NATO mafia, there’s a lot of new territory with various bosses setup for the different neighborhoods

Russia operates via approved regional bosses, they ask to join the NATO mafia and are denied

insert Putin hand picked by USA, asks to integrate

NATO mafia continues to encircle while Russia keeps playing along increasingly concerned about exclusion and the various NATO hits and hit contracts against other non-members around the it

insert NATO encroaching historical info here

Russia’s neighbor Ukraine is also suffering under the NATO mafia exclusion, so Russia seeks to collaborate against the top boss, to maintain some control of the neighborhood

insert Ukraine super poor compared to rest of Europe, also extremely corrupt info

This angers the top boss, so they decide to ‘jump in’ Ukraine but not completely

After the initial beating, they tell Ukraine ‘do what we ask without question, and you will be part of our mafia one day kid’

The internal mafias of Ukraine start getting excited, they are at the adults table now, not just sitting with the loser Russia that can barely keep control of its own neighborhood, but with the top boss and their cool friends of NATO

insert pics of neo-nazis with NATO flags here

Russia even more concerned, now these punk mafias of Ukraine think they can just do all kinds of sloppy things in the neighborhood, and Russia just has to let it go because Ukraine is the top boss’ new puppy on a leash

Russia chaffs under this arrangement for years, being undermined by the NATO mafia that originally granted the authority to the setup the Russia mafia in the neighborhood

Territory disputes start to get kinetic around the neighborhood, Russia mafia knows there are multiple open hit contracts out on it, with the top boss handing out weapons to the sloppy little mafias in Ukraine specifically

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just had to get this out of my head - please help flesh it out or turn it into a video script or something