This article is too focused on Russia.
I read the article and apparently Mattis is focused on Russia
It’s focused on Putin because he’s a malevolent force in Central Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. Putin used his political clout to push the US out of Manas Air Force Base complicating our logistics in and out of Afghanistan. He has begun supporting the Taliban whom the US is still fighting in Afghanistan. He provides sophisticated air defense to the mad mullahs running Iran. He invaded a sovereign nation and took a piece of it for the keeping and continues an undeclared war against the people of that nation, Ukraine, leading to about 10,000 people killed and 1.7 million displace. His indiscriminate warfare to protect the Assad hereditary dictatorship has led to massive refugee problems throughout Europe. His planes have buzzed neutral countries like Ireland and his submarines have violated neutral Sweden’s coastal waters. He repeatedly threatens Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland for their membership in NATO. He forces Belorussia to align with his nation despite the lack of support from the people of that nation. He’s used cyber warfare on several countries in Europe. All of this information is available in open sources.