4132

The new Cold War that is emerging is between Russia/China and US/EU. Russia trying to recreate the Soviet Empire is a template for China advancing militarily in Asia. We ignore it at our peril.

4133

Being a world policeman was a problem for forum radical left-wingers/libs. Now that a crazy senile radical left-winger/lib as pres…libs support it.

Why don’t LIBS here try some consistency. Hear of that word before?

3 Likes
4134

There is no EU in our dealing with China…thye will be the first to sell us out…that’s if they haven’t already.

2 Likes
4135

Yes China is a real threat globally imho considering how much of American manufacturing is in their country. Plus they are a monetary threat as well in terms of trade dominance and a trade war going on. Again Russia is non of these all they sell besides weapons, oil and wheat are these things.

asdasasddas

1 Like
4136

You betcha they will look at how many EU countries cozied right up to Huawei after America told them their was a security threat. The EU still has their deals with them. Americans should learn to take care of their own first just as individual EU countries do.

4137

Or they are terrified about what the US could do to them if they don’t join the latest war against Russia.

The attack on the Nord Stream pipeline shows that NATO is enforcing a modified version of the Brezhnev doctrine. NATO 2023 is becoming the Warsaw Pact 1968.

Meanwhile, Turkey has effectively canceled Sweden’s membership application after Sweden allowed a Koran-burning protest at the Turkish embassy. Finland says it will not join NATO without Sweden, so now they will not have to station NATO nukes on the Russian border. They can avoid being ground zero for WW3.

I suspect that Sweden and Finland have found pretexts to avoid NATO membership while appearing to support NATO. A win-win.

4138

Why? Such as?

4139

I can’t speak for forum members but personally the idea that somehow the US should pack up and get small because “reasons” has always been a stupid idea in my mind.

4140

It’s almost like people forgot why we are the power that we are and it was not done by staying out of anyone’s business. If it can benefit us or our allies economically we make it our business it’s that simple.

China, Russia and their allies want to have the kind of influence the West has on the world.

1 Like
4141

Everything. Dominant currency, control of resources, etc. This ain’t rocket science.

4142

Next up…Moldova and…Belarus.

Nom nom.

4143

To be fair, the US has trained with China on a few occasions as well. The PLAN participated in two RIMPACs.

That said that was a good while back when the relationship wasn’t as heated as it is now.

4144

Just the other day Putin was hugging his good buddy Lukashenko. What a guy!

1 Like
4145

Was he subtly guiding him towards a window?

1 Like
4146

When I heard about Marina Yankina I have to admit I was surprised that there was not poison involved.
Back to the good old days I guess.

4147

Is China trying to distance itself from Russia?

From Jan 10 until today at several articles have appeared in major media indicating China is attempting to distance itself for Russia.

I note however, that last year when Russia’s invasion was only a month or so old China made similar “distancing gestures” and not much came of that.

I note especially the assertion by Chinese officials (bold below) that there exists a likelihood

  • Russia will fail in Ukraine
  • Russia could emerge for this failure as a “minor power” much diminished economically and diplomatically

That analysis matches well with recent reports about the sorry state of the Russian economy (lost 9% of its GDP and what’s left is being eaten-away by 11-12% inflation.)

From the “main” article (1 below)

Jan 10, 2023

“Diplomatically, Beijing hopes it will not become a rival to every country in the west and nor does it wish to look isolated at multilateral fora,” says Yu Jie, a China expert at UK think-tank Chatham House.

“Russia’s faltering military adventure in Ukraine has significantly reduced Beijing’s return on investment in its bilateral ties with Moscow.”

While Xi and Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president, pledged last month to deepen bilateral ties, several Chinese officials in private conversations with the Financial Times strove to put clear daylight between Beijing and Moscow on the issue of Ukraine — a message that has been repeated to some European diplomats.

Some are scathing. “Putin is crazy,” says one Chinese official, who declined to be identified. “The invasion decision was made by a very small group of people. China shouldn’t simply follow Russia.”

Mistrust with Moscow

The starting point for Xi’s diplomatic reset is a re-evaluation in Beijing about the benefits of its close relationship with Moscow.

China now perceives a likelihood that Russia will fail to prevail against Ukraine and emerge from the conflict a “minor power”, much diminished economically and diplomatically on the world stage, according to Chinese officials.

In addition, for all the public professions of bilateral amity, in private some Chinese officials express at least a measure of mistrust towards Putin himself.

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/china-seeks-distance-itself-putin-032300459.html

https://www.ksbw.com/article/china-quietly-distancing-itself-from-russia/39460799#

1 Like
4148

More likely Chinese misdirection.

3 Likes
4149

At least one person here noted that the Russian deposits of natural resources sit in Siberia and could be a target of eventual Chinese aggression.

  • If someone on this forum can think of it, the Chinese can think of it.
  • It the hypothesis holds any water, then we should also consider that whatever stance China takes on Ukraine is positioning for them (eventually) to seize Siberian resources from a weakened Russia.
4150

I see no explanation about how the alleged document was leaked. If it came via Washington or Kyiv, then there would be good reasons to suspect it is fake.

As far as the reported contents, Belarus and Russia already have very close relations, so plans for a union of some sort in the future are hardly surprising.

4151

The war in Ukraine can be viewed as a proxy war between the US and China. China is using Russia to destroy NATO. A peace agreement is not in China’s interest.

It makes sense that China would encourage neocons in Washington to keep squandering resources in Ukraine. The US is willing to fight to the last Ukrainian; China is willing to fight to the last Russian.