The immediate intensification of the US’ new “war of attrition” against Russia is dependent on whether China helps Ukraine for profit and “détente” at the cost of Russian civilian lives by selling it EU-funded drones or refuses out of solidarity with Russia in the spirit of their strategic partnership.
Andrew, are you really fair? It seems that for you, India never betray Russia and just follows its own national interest. But China do betray Russia if it follows its own national interests.
That said, India and China are selfish big fat turkeys and for that they will be devoured by the western hyena.
No Russian has died as a result of Indian arms sales anywhere in the world, while around 80% of Russian casualties nowadays are reportedly due to Ukrainian drones that are reliant on at least some degree of Chinese parts.
If China cut Ukraine off, this whole thing would quickly end with a stunning Russian victory, but China has been playing a double game this entire time since it wants to indefinitely perpetuate the conflict.
The "worst" that India ever did "against" Russia was drastically reduce its import of Russian oil, which doesn't physically harm any Russian, while China's drone sales to Ukraine have killed an untold number of Russians.
What I'm trying to say is that both China and India follow their own interests, but China is indirectly responsible for killing Russians and turning the SMO into a "war of attrition" whose dynamics are increasingly shifting against Russia, while India only reduced its import of Russian oil. I don't consider these two examples to be comparable.
I believe that countries shouldn't contribute to killing their "strategic partner's" soldiers and civilians like Turkiye and China are doing vis-a-vis Russia but which neither India and Russia are doing to one another.
I think that once a country takes action to kill your country's civilians, they're no longer really a "strategic partner", just an economic-financial one. I understand the "power of the dollar" in China, but still, I don't think it's right.
Whatever one thinks about India's domestic situation and foreign policy, it hasn't ever done anything to kill Russians, just like Russia hasn't ever done anything to kill Indians, so those two truly do have a "special and privileged" strategic partnership.
China is complicit in killing Russians? Because Ukraine buys drone components, dual use? That is a very low bar. Obviously Putin doesent view it that way, and the Chinese dont want to drag this out, that happening because Putin has choosen a stratagy that is slow rolling the war, and only escalates in a tit for tat manner.
You could easily say the EU is complisit in killing Ukrainians because they bought 10 euros worth of energy and funded the Russian army!
It's complicated. China is the main buyer of Russian Oil and Gas, and the main supplier of Machinery and chips to Russia, after Western supplies have been cut-off. My guess is that if China is not providing drones to Ukraine and rare-earths to the West, the USA will cut-off its sea trade lanes. So we are going into a similar situation as Japan vs USA in the late 1930s.
I agree that it’s complicated, but it’s most certainly NOT my “wish” for Russia’s top partner to arm its enemy, which is attacking the city that my family and I live in! I mean WTF, really, it’s so insulting!
Well, yes, but short of using nukes, I don't see how one can bring the war to a close in a condition that's favorable to Russia. I mean in a fast way, not-dependent on final attrition of Ukrainian military.
Look - Israel is in a very similar situation. There is some part of the Muslim world that uses the same boil the frog approach vis-a-vis Israel. EU is generally Muslim-Street-friendly, because they have been hating Jews since the crusades a millenium ago. Plus, they've now imported the Muslim Street into Western Europe (Ukraine is going to follow them on that, as its native population collapses!). And the USA tries to sit on the fence...
It was always like this. For example, In Gogol's masterpiece "Taras Bulba" the Zaporozhyer Kosaks are used in a boil the frog approach on the Poles and the Turks.
China is actively cracking down on the export/resale of drone parts. There are technical difficulties, even if the Chinese authorities are serious. However, Taiwan seems to be getting some orders and reviving local manufacturing.
This makes me wonder whether Russia might be smart to leverage its own trade advantage. Just accept the costs of reducing energy exports for a while and let both Europe and China, or more importantly China's Asian customers, get accustomed to buying higher cost energy for a while.
It boggles the mind that Russia even continues to supply Europe.
And, yes, China has a 1.8b bbl SPR but getting the right grade of crude to the right place, at the right time would be a major challenge. And the customers would not be pleased with China buying its SPR at $30/bbl and selling it to them at $100.
Russia could also consider creating energy pricing volatility by manipulating availability of exports over time.
I also wonder if China's never-ending concern over internal stability also plays a role in this self-serving, morally obtuse positioning. Personally, I dont buy the case of those arguing that China is being balanced or neutral. China has a powerful Russian ally against a US customer that wants to dominate if not destroy it and it is arrogantly abandoning its ally in a time of need.
"Some might doubt that China would accept payment from the EU to help Ukraine kill Russians due to their perception that China and Russia are allies, but the reality is that they’re only strategic partners..."
China is the 800 pound gorilla…every decision Xi makes is based on what is best for China. Bush thought he could manipulate China…and we hemorrhaged millions of manufacturing jobs to China in a short period under Bush.
Russia & China have a partnershit against their biggest enemy the USA. I do not think that China will ruin that relationship. The 3 big nations, USA, Russia, China. Russia + China stronger then the USA. R+C >>>USA.
I wish that was the case but China's drone and related parts sales to Ukraine these 4.5 years are a large part of the reason why the conflict hasn't yet ended with a triumphant Russian victory.
The fundamental issue here is that Russia is less important than the USA, China, and the EU. The relationship of these 3 with each other is more important than their relationship with Russia, and so their strategy on Russia depends on their strategy with respect to the other two.
Up until 24 Feb 2022, the US perspective on China and Russia was considered overly hawkish within the EU. The EU increased its economic dependence on both China and Russia. The US warned against this.
After the “SMO” began and China failed to condemn the invasion sufficiently (from the EU perspective), it caused the EU to rethink how it deals with China: “if China is going to sit idly by as Russia starts a war on our doorstep… maybe we need to be more careful in how we deal with them.”
And that’s actually a catastrophe for China, because the EU is a huge market for them, and because its inroads to the EU were a great way of marginalizing the US both economically and geostrategically. This isn’t to say that China was able to take a different diplomatic position on the war: it does need Russia. It is to say that most people in Beijing were probably frustrated with Putin, especially once it was clear that it was going to be a slog of a war.
China is now making the best of the situation: sell dual-use stuff to both sides, and hope that the war grinds down Russia so that it’s more dependent on China, and hence more predictable.
I agree that China is upset with Russia and wishes that the SMO never began (or at least was successful in the first few months), but I also think that it now derives a cynical benefit from its indefinite perpetuation since it prevents a US-led (-subordinated) West from focusing more on containing China.
While most (N)RPR would undoubtedly have wished otherwise, China has consistently and repeatedly declared neutrality regarding the war in Ukraine. See https://archive.ph/KSJWD. If China were to block drone parts for Ukraine OR Russia, it would become a co-belligerent.
However, despite China's neutrality, the West has loudly and repeatedly accused China of funding Russia's war - simply because China has resisted Western sanctions and continued to trade with Russia. These are the wages of being neutral, I suppose.
Strategically, if there is one lesson we can learn from trade sanctions, it is that not only can they be of limited effectiveness, they could also be counterproductive in the long run. The Wolf Amendment has ensured China has a more advanced space station than the ISS. Furthermore, Western sanctions on Huawei, and via ASML in general, are widely credited for ensuring China pulls out all the stops to create a 100% domestic, most likely to be world-beating, advanced chips ecosystem. Like many complex issues in life, cause and effect are often counter-intuitive.
It's not "neutrality" when you're arming your "strategic partner's" enemy to kill their soldiers and civilians, come on! Real neutrality doesn't consist of that. It's profit-driven double-dealing and I think that it exposes China as always being out for itself.
This whole thing could have been wrapped up years ago without the drone-driven "war of attrition" from the end of 2022 till today had China not sold systems and parts to Ukraine. What's the point of "strategic partner" if they're helping to kill your own people?
There's going to be A LOT of resentment at the state and civil society levels if China accepts cash from the EU for helping Ukraine kill Russians. Russia can't do much, it's the junior partner after all, but it's never good to provoke such deep resentment from a "friend'.
Also, as an aside, Don: you don't have to defend literally every single thing that China does. You're anonymous, that's fine, but precisely because you're anonymous, nobody will know if you even just constructively critique China once like in this case.
The country that I live in is about to experience a world of hurt if China's world-class factories radically ramp up drone production as a result of this immense injection of European cash into its industry. It's a bit surreal that China is doing this.
It's a real "stab in the back". No matter what relatively poorer countries tell your people and government in the attempt to remain in their good graces for low-interest loans and market access, it looks very, very bad, neoconservative American-like style to be honest.
I am not saying you do, but it seems most people evaluate international relations based on the norms of their daily dealings, when they are in fact apples and oranges.
Another way of looking at Russia's current challenges (which I hope they will overcome), is that Russia is still paying for the sins of the USSR, precisely due to how they played in the schoolyard I described in the link above.
Got it, I’ll perceive China as an ordinary partner of Russia’s going forward, this was a long-overdue correction to my worldview.
I hitherto naively entertained the increasingly faint hope that China saw Russia as a special partner and that they sincerely respected one another enough not to arm any third parties that are actively killing the other’s civilians.
How China treats Russia in this respect will reverberate globally, and while the relatively poorer countries will continue sucking up to China, their officials, experts, and societies will get the message loud and clear that they too might one day be threatened by tech and even arms that China sold to their wartime enemies.
Glad to be of some help, if you mean what you say. Far from being a propagandist, I am just trying to be a good learner. The biggest trick most analysts have totally missed, imho, is to study and understand how China works. It is as if they all think China became a superpower from abject poverty by sheer luck...
"How China treats Russia in this respect will reverberate globally, and while the relatively poorer countries will continue sucking up to China, their officials, experts, and societies will get the message loud and clear that they too might one day be threatened by tech and even arms that China sold to their wartime enemies."
Sure, that can happen, but isn't that the very nature of the schoolyard? But who, rich or poor, is forced by China to "suck up" to China (whatever that means) without trying to get something no less valuable in return?
Sure. Refusing to sell weapons does not make one a co-belligerent, but refusing to sell key (dual use, by the way) parts of key weapons to only one side of a hot war does, imho. At the very least, it would no longer be "neutral".
Actually, even selling weapons doesn't immediately make one a cobelligerent. It's simply that the other side may say "cease and desist, or else". And if the country selling weapons still does it, it is up to the counterpart saying you've crossed my red line, now it is "or else"...
That's not how I meant it. I meant that economically, industrially etc. Pretty much most Western countries depend on China in one way or another. Look at the US for example. One time I found BRAND new, legal size, US flag, high grade, crispy clean if not new in a public trash bin. Astounded, I picked it up and started scanning it with my eyes as if it dropped on me from high above, on it sown a little tab with "made in China" on it ‼️ China make the flags for the US. American Flags‼️The US needs to take care of its' own dirty business or stfu. They have no business "throwing dirt at China's feet" or anyone else for that matter. They are very stupid and grossly incompetent. For example, knowing China pretty much makes everything for the US and loans it bunch of money, JD Vance went on, at the beginning of this term, blaming them for the US borrowing money from them to be able to buy close to everything from them‼️And as if that was not enough, he went on to call them "peasants" in the process. I mean how stupid and retarded must one be to commit such blunder in public❓⁉️ The entire statement is hopelessly stupid and on many levels not just one. We dont' even talk about how dumb and stupid the trampe is.
And as far as legacy media. Reuters and AP used to be the only 2 media outlets controlling the news across country if not the world. One of them bought the other. So now as far as MSM, we have only one that controls everything either one or the other. Look it up.
As far as 2020 elections they (tptb) used several ways to steal the elections from the trampe. One of them was the dominion machines that are typically used ONLY abroad when the deep state is bound on insuring the person they want is elected from whatever country. In 2020 those machines were used domestically when they were not supposed to. So the Russians were NOT involved, or the Chinese, or the monkeys, or the laughing hayenas, or the rats underground, etc. as much as the criminals upstairs want them to be involved they are NOT.
An example of how unaccountable these criminals are: Just look up the trampe and what he did with Iran. He went ahead and attacked without consulting with ANYBODY. When he phaQed up & phaQed up Big, and realized who the Iranians really are, he didn't not for once take responsibility for his phaQ ups. NOT once. It's either "we won the war" when we actually did not, or this or that. NOT once that scumbag Owned his turding act. And to this day he is still blaming everybody else but himself. And in his behavior he typifies the model Washington routinely projects unto the world.
The Bible says:
- \\"From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much moOOre will be asked."// - ~ Luke 12:48b
Washington will be forced to make restitution one of these days. It's mathematical certainty. They cannot get away with this for ever. There are universal laws which come into play depending on what goes on.
The UN Charter Stance: China's primary diplomatic guideline—frequently repeated by Foreign Minister Wang Yi—is that the "sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries must be upheld". Beijing explicitly states that this universal principle applies directly to Ukraine.Non-Recognition of Annexations:
China has refused to officially recognize Russia’s annexations of Ukrainian territory. It did not recognize the 2014 annexation of Crimea, nor does it recognize the four regions Moscow claimed to annex in 2022.
For China,its relationship with the US-led Western world remains the pillar of its foreign policy since the 1970s.
The Chinese elite dislikes Russia ,historically. They are amoral and perceive the world through an economic angle.Hence,it will be difficult for Moscow to alter Chinese policy in relation to the EU/Ukraine nexus.
A very perceptive article by the author. China will most likely continue to sell drone parts to Russia and Ukraine. Their foreign policy since the late 1970s has centred around maintaining a stable partnership with the US, so they cannot be bothered by Russian casualties. The Chinese ruling elite perceives all issues through a financial/economic lens and is therefore totally amoral.
" However, Google refuses to filter the illegal content, despite Roskomnadzor holding several meetings with the representatives of the US tech giant and explaining the legalities to them."
" Earlier this week, Google was fined 500,000 rubles ($7,500) for refusing to connect its search engine to the federal database of banned websites. The penalty almost feels like a mockery, considering that Alphabet holding company, which Google is part of, earned almost $110 billion last year."
“If fines won’t have any effect on the behavior of the foreign company, there’s a possibility that the legislation will be changed, which will allow blocking Goggle in Russia,”
If fines, $7,500, dont change multi-billion worth Google's behavior, then we MIGHT ban them . Russia is not a serious nation.
So is Russia to China as Canada is to US? Huge border, similar disproportion in population, hewer of wood and drawer of water kind of thing for mammoth neighbour, longstanding if on again off again positive relationship...? Pressure applied from US on Can. is unprecedented in recent decades - but can be understood as major self-salvage attempt (regardless of agreement with policy or no). Perceivable peculiarities in Russ-China relationship I do not think merit going over the top into condemnation on this drone parts matter.
Stupid China, if Russia falls its next, unless, its been working with the US this whole time. For instance , these peculiar moves to undermine Iran.
" Chinese crude imports fell to 7.8 million barrels per day (bpd), a multi-year low. This reduction accounted for about 74% of the entire decrease in global crude trade, helping to suppress global price spikes."
" China’s aggressive import reductions have functioned as a critical global price stabilizer, artificially capping crude prices despite severe wartime supply shocks. By opting out of the global spot market, Beijing single-handedly prevented the U.S.-Iran conflict from driving oil into a devastating, triple-digit spiral."
" China's crude imports plummeted by over 41% in June, hitting a near-decade low of roughly 7.12 to 7.8 million barrels per day (bpd). According to JPMorgan calculations, this sudden retreat accounted for 74% of the entire world's drop in oil trade, effectively erasing the immediate deficit caused by the Middle East blockade."
Andrew, are you really fair? It seems that for you, India never betray Russia and just follows its own national interest. But China do betray Russia if it follows its own national interests.
That said, India and China are selfish big fat turkeys and for that they will be devoured by the western hyena.
No Russian has died as a result of Indian arms sales anywhere in the world, while around 80% of Russian casualties nowadays are reportedly due to Ukrainian drones that are reliant on at least some degree of Chinese parts.
If China cut Ukraine off, this whole thing would quickly end with a stunning Russian victory, but China has been playing a double game this entire time since it wants to indefinitely perpetuate the conflict.
The "worst" that India ever did "against" Russia was drastically reduce its import of Russian oil, which doesn't physically harm any Russian, while China's drone sales to Ukraine have killed an untold number of Russians.
What I'm trying to say is that both China and India follow their own interests, but China is indirectly responsible for killing Russians and turning the SMO into a "war of attrition" whose dynamics are increasingly shifting against Russia, while India only reduced its import of Russian oil. I don't consider these two examples to be comparable.
I believe that countries shouldn't contribute to killing their "strategic partner's" soldiers and civilians like Turkiye and China are doing vis-a-vis Russia but which neither India and Russia are doing to one another.
I think that once a country takes action to kill your country's civilians, they're no longer really a "strategic partner", just an economic-financial one. I understand the "power of the dollar" in China, but still, I don't think it's right.
Whatever one thinks about India's domestic situation and foreign policy, it hasn't ever done anything to kill Russians, just like Russia hasn't ever done anything to kill Indians, so those two truly do have a "special and privileged" strategic partnership.
Meanwhile, EU is now accusing China of the opposite behavior as it prepares a $20b order for more drone parts.
Russia says nothing and doesn't complain.
Correct, because it needs China more than the inverse, and China can therefore get away scot-free with helping Ukraine kill Russians.
China is complicit in killing Russians? Because Ukraine buys drone components, dual use? That is a very low bar. Obviously Putin doesent view it that way, and the Chinese dont want to drag this out, that happening because Putin has choosen a stratagy that is slow rolling the war, and only escalates in a tit for tat manner.
You could easily say the EU is complisit in killing Ukrainians because they bought 10 euros worth of energy and funded the Russian army!
Don't think China and India will be devoured by the West. The West is slowly collapsing due to replacement of native Westerners with 3rd Worlders.
No, it replaces its populations b 3rd worlders because it is collapsing.
Divine retribution for not studying the Scripture
At what point will acquiescence be self defeating Andrew, though I regard yiur above comment to be correct.
At what point will acquiescence be self defeating Andrew, though I regard yiur above comment to be correct.
It's complicated. China is the main buyer of Russian Oil and Gas, and the main supplier of Machinery and chips to Russia, after Western supplies have been cut-off. My guess is that if China is not providing drones to Ukraine and rare-earths to the West, the USA will cut-off its sea trade lanes. So we are going into a similar situation as Japan vs USA in the late 1930s.
I agree that it’s complicated, but it’s most certainly NOT my “wish” for Russia’s top partner to arm its enemy, which is attacking the city that my family and I live in! I mean WTF, really, it’s so insulting!
Well, yes, but short of using nukes, I don't see how one can bring the war to a close in a condition that's favorable to Russia. I mean in a fast way, not-dependent on final attrition of Ukrainian military.
Look - Israel is in a very similar situation. There is some part of the Muslim world that uses the same boil the frog approach vis-a-vis Israel. EU is generally Muslim-Street-friendly, because they have been hating Jews since the crusades a millenium ago. Plus, they've now imported the Muslim Street into Western Europe (Ukraine is going to follow them on that, as its native population collapses!). And the USA tries to sit on the fence...
It was always like this. For example, In Gogol's masterpiece "Taras Bulba" the Zaporozhyer Kosaks are used in a boil the frog approach on the Poles and the Turks.
China is actively cracking down on the export/resale of drone parts. There are technical difficulties, even if the Chinese authorities are serious. However, Taiwan seems to be getting some orders and reviving local manufacturing.
Outstanding summary. Thanks.
This makes me wonder whether Russia might be smart to leverage its own trade advantage. Just accept the costs of reducing energy exports for a while and let both Europe and China, or more importantly China's Asian customers, get accustomed to buying higher cost energy for a while.
It boggles the mind that Russia even continues to supply Europe.
And, yes, China has a 1.8b bbl SPR but getting the right grade of crude to the right place, at the right time would be a major challenge. And the customers would not be pleased with China buying its SPR at $30/bbl and selling it to them at $100.
Russia could also consider creating energy pricing volatility by manipulating availability of exports over time.
I also wonder if China's never-ending concern over internal stability also plays a role in this self-serving, morally obtuse positioning. Personally, I dont buy the case of those arguing that China is being balanced or neutral. China has a powerful Russian ally against a US customer that wants to dominate if not destroy it and it is arrogantly abandoning its ally in a time of need.
"Some might doubt that China would accept payment from the EU to help Ukraine kill Russians due to their perception that China and Russia are allies, but the reality is that they’re only strategic partners..."
China isn't even that.
China is the 800 pound gorilla…every decision Xi makes is based on what is best for China. Bush thought he could manipulate China…and we hemorrhaged millions of manufacturing jobs to China in a short period under Bush.
Russia & China have a partnershit against their biggest enemy the USA. I do not think that China will ruin that relationship. The 3 big nations, USA, Russia, China. Russia + China stronger then the USA. R+C >>>USA.
I wish that was the case but China's drone and related parts sales to Ukraine these 4.5 years are a large part of the reason why the conflict hasn't yet ended with a triumphant Russian victory.
" China stronger then the USA. R+C >>>USA. "
They sure dont act like it. In fact its the opposite.
The fundamental issue here is that Russia is less important than the USA, China, and the EU. The relationship of these 3 with each other is more important than their relationship with Russia, and so their strategy on Russia depends on their strategy with respect to the other two.
Up until 24 Feb 2022, the US perspective on China and Russia was considered overly hawkish within the EU. The EU increased its economic dependence on both China and Russia. The US warned against this.
After the “SMO” began and China failed to condemn the invasion sufficiently (from the EU perspective), it caused the EU to rethink how it deals with China: “if China is going to sit idly by as Russia starts a war on our doorstep… maybe we need to be more careful in how we deal with them.”
And that’s actually a catastrophe for China, because the EU is a huge market for them, and because its inroads to the EU were a great way of marginalizing the US both economically and geostrategically. This isn’t to say that China was able to take a different diplomatic position on the war: it does need Russia. It is to say that most people in Beijing were probably frustrated with Putin, especially once it was clear that it was going to be a slog of a war.
China is now making the best of the situation: sell dual-use stuff to both sides, and hope that the war grinds down Russia so that it’s more dependent on China, and hence more predictable.
I agree that China is upset with Russia and wishes that the SMO never began (or at least was successful in the first few months), but I also think that it now derives a cynical benefit from its indefinite perpetuation since it prevents a US-led (-subordinated) West from focusing more on containing China.
It’s complicated…
It's what one says when it's very simple but one doesn't want to recognize it.
While most (N)RPR would undoubtedly have wished otherwise, China has consistently and repeatedly declared neutrality regarding the war in Ukraine. See https://archive.ph/KSJWD. If China were to block drone parts for Ukraine OR Russia, it would become a co-belligerent.
However, despite China's neutrality, the West has loudly and repeatedly accused China of funding Russia's war - simply because China has resisted Western sanctions and continued to trade with Russia. These are the wages of being neutral, I suppose.
Strategically, if there is one lesson we can learn from trade sanctions, it is that not only can they be of limited effectiveness, they could also be counterproductive in the long run. The Wolf Amendment has ensured China has a more advanced space station than the ISS. Furthermore, Western sanctions on Huawei, and via ASML in general, are widely credited for ensuring China pulls out all the stops to create a 100% domestic, most likely to be world-beating, advanced chips ecosystem. Like many complex issues in life, cause and effect are often counter-intuitive.
It's not "neutrality" when you're arming your "strategic partner's" enemy to kill their soldiers and civilians, come on! Real neutrality doesn't consist of that. It's profit-driven double-dealing and I think that it exposes China as always being out for itself.
This whole thing could have been wrapped up years ago without the drone-driven "war of attrition" from the end of 2022 till today had China not sold systems and parts to Ukraine. What's the point of "strategic partner" if they're helping to kill your own people?
There's going to be A LOT of resentment at the state and civil society levels if China accepts cash from the EU for helping Ukraine kill Russians. Russia can't do much, it's the junior partner after all, but it's never good to provoke such deep resentment from a "friend'.
Also, as an aside, Don: you don't have to defend literally every single thing that China does. You're anonymous, that's fine, but precisely because you're anonymous, nobody will know if you even just constructively critique China once like in this case.
The country that I live in is about to experience a world of hurt if China's world-class factories radically ramp up drone production as a result of this immense injection of European cash into its industry. It's a bit surreal that China is doing this.
It's a real "stab in the back". No matter what relatively poorer countries tell your people and government in the attempt to remain in their good graces for low-interest loans and market access, it looks very, very bad, neoconservative American-like style to be honest.
"It's not "neutrality" when you're arming your "strategic partner's" enemy to kill their soldiers and civilians, come on!"
Fact is, nearly every second country on earth is China's "strategic partner", including Ukraine!
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_diplomatic_partnerships_of_China
In case you are unaware, I have consistently observed that China exercises realpolitik to a fault, whether others like it or not, I believe for the simple reason that the world is anarchic. See e.g. https://korybko.substack.com/p/a-top-russian-expert-criticized-chinas/comment/252485863
I am not saying you do, but it seems most people evaluate international relations based on the norms of their daily dealings, when they are in fact apples and oranges.
Another way of looking at Russia's current challenges (which I hope they will overcome), is that Russia is still paying for the sins of the USSR, precisely due to how they played in the schoolyard I described in the link above.
Got it, I’ll perceive China as an ordinary partner of Russia’s going forward, this was a long-overdue correction to my worldview.
I hitherto naively entertained the increasingly faint hope that China saw Russia as a special partner and that they sincerely respected one another enough not to arm any third parties that are actively killing the other’s civilians.
How China treats Russia in this respect will reverberate globally, and while the relatively poorer countries will continue sucking up to China, their officials, experts, and societies will get the message loud and clear that they too might one day be threatened by tech and even arms that China sold to their wartime enemies.
Glad to be of some help, if you mean what you say. Far from being a propagandist, I am just trying to be a good learner. The biggest trick most analysts have totally missed, imho, is to study and understand how China works. It is as if they all think China became a superpower from abject poverty by sheer luck...
"How China treats Russia in this respect will reverberate globally, and while the relatively poorer countries will continue sucking up to China, their officials, experts, and societies will get the message loud and clear that they too might one day be threatened by tech and even arms that China sold to their wartime enemies."
Sure, that can happen, but isn't that the very nature of the schoolyard? But who, rich or poor, is forced by China to "suck up" to China (whatever that means) without trying to get something no less valuable in return?
The Chinese leadership see Russia as a losing cause.
IMHO, the Chinese leadership would move heaven and hell to ensure Russia doesn't "lose" - Russia losing is not in their national interest.
They sure don't act like it.
Refusing to sell weapons does not make one a co-belligerent.
Sure. Refusing to sell weapons does not make one a co-belligerent, but refusing to sell key (dual use, by the way) parts of key weapons to only one side of a hot war does, imho. At the very least, it would no longer be "neutral".
Refusing to sell dual-use or anything else doesn't make one a co-belligerent.
Actually, even selling weapons doesn't immediately make one a cobelligerent. It's simply that the other side may say "cease and desist, or else". And if the country selling weapons still does it, it is up to the counterpart saying you've crossed my red line, now it is "or else"...
Yeah, but Russia Cannot really afford to do that with China and neither can anybody else at this point.
The US seems to throw dirt on China's feet on a regular basis.
" White House weighs releasing controversial intel on China and US elections, sources say"
https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/white-house-weighs-releasing-controversial-intel-china-us-elections-sources-say-2026-07-15/
That's not how I meant it. I meant that economically, industrially etc. Pretty much most Western countries depend on China in one way or another. Look at the US for example. One time I found BRAND new, legal size, US flag, high grade, crispy clean if not new in a public trash bin. Astounded, I picked it up and started scanning it with my eyes as if it dropped on me from high above, on it sown a little tab with "made in China" on it ‼️ China make the flags for the US. American Flags‼️The US needs to take care of its' own dirty business or stfu. They have no business "throwing dirt at China's feet" or anyone else for that matter. They are very stupid and grossly incompetent. For example, knowing China pretty much makes everything for the US and loans it bunch of money, JD Vance went on, at the beginning of this term, blaming them for the US borrowing money from them to be able to buy close to everything from them‼️And as if that was not enough, he went on to call them "peasants" in the process. I mean how stupid and retarded must one be to commit such blunder in public❓⁉️ The entire statement is hopelessly stupid and on many levels not just one. We dont' even talk about how dumb and stupid the trampe is.
And as far as legacy media. Reuters and AP used to be the only 2 media outlets controlling the news across country if not the world. One of them bought the other. So now as far as MSM, we have only one that controls everything either one or the other. Look it up.
As far as 2020 elections they (tptb) used several ways to steal the elections from the trampe. One of them was the dominion machines that are typically used ONLY abroad when the deep state is bound on insuring the person they want is elected from whatever country. In 2020 those machines were used domestically when they were not supposed to. So the Russians were NOT involved, or the Chinese, or the monkeys, or the laughing hayenas, or the rats underground, etc. as much as the criminals upstairs want them to be involved they are NOT.
An example of how unaccountable these criminals are: Just look up the trampe and what he did with Iran. He went ahead and attacked without consulting with ANYBODY. When he phaQed up & phaQed up Big, and realized who the Iranians really are, he didn't not for once take responsibility for his phaQ ups. NOT once. It's either "we won the war" when we actually did not, or this or that. NOT once that scumbag Owned his turding act. And to this day he is still blaming everybody else but himself. And in his behavior he typifies the model Washington routinely projects unto the world.
The Bible says:
- \\"From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much moOOre will be asked."// - ~ Luke 12:48b
Washington will be forced to make restitution one of these days. It's mathematical certainty. They cannot get away with this for ever. There are universal laws which come into play depending on what goes on.
Neutrality ?
The UN Charter Stance: China's primary diplomatic guideline—frequently repeated by Foreign Minister Wang Yi—is that the "sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries must be upheld". Beijing explicitly states that this universal principle applies directly to Ukraine.Non-Recognition of Annexations:
China has refused to officially recognize Russia’s annexations of Ukrainian territory. It did not recognize the 2014 annexation of Crimea, nor does it recognize the four regions Moscow claimed to annex in 2022.
Thank you so much for this. So much for "partnership"🥹🥺😢. We live in a rotten world.
There are no gentlemen any more, are there?
For China,its relationship with the US-led Western world remains the pillar of its foreign policy since the 1970s.
The Chinese elite dislikes Russia ,historically. They are amoral and perceive the world through an economic angle.Hence,it will be difficult for Moscow to alter Chinese policy in relation to the EU/Ukraine nexus.
A very perceptive article by the author. China will most likely continue to sell drone parts to Russia and Ukraine. Their foreign policy since the late 1970s has centred around maintaining a stable partnership with the US, so they cannot be bothered by Russian casualties. The Chinese ruling elite perceives all issues through a financial/economic lens and is therefore totally amoral.
Russia is not a serious country.
" However, Google refuses to filter the illegal content, despite Roskomnadzor holding several meetings with the representatives of the US tech giant and explaining the legalities to them."
" Earlier this week, Google was fined 500,000 rubles ($7,500) for refusing to connect its search engine to the federal database of banned websites. The penalty almost feels like a mockery, considering that Alphabet holding company, which Google is part of, earned almost $110 billion last year."
“If fines won’t have any effect on the behavior of the foreign company, there’s a possibility that the legislation will be changed, which will allow blocking Goggle in Russia,”
If fines, $7,500, dont change multi-billion worth Google's behavior, then we MIGHT ban them . Russia is not a serious nation.
So is Russia to China as Canada is to US? Huge border, similar disproportion in population, hewer of wood and drawer of water kind of thing for mammoth neighbour, longstanding if on again off again positive relationship...? Pressure applied from US on Can. is unprecedented in recent decades - but can be understood as major self-salvage attempt (regardless of agreement with policy or no). Perceivable peculiarities in Russ-China relationship I do not think merit going over the top into condemnation on this drone parts matter.
Stupid China, if Russia falls its next, unless, its been working with the US this whole time. For instance , these peculiar moves to undermine Iran.
" Chinese crude imports fell to 7.8 million barrels per day (bpd), a multi-year low. This reduction accounted for about 74% of the entire decrease in global crude trade, helping to suppress global price spikes."
" China’s aggressive import reductions have functioned as a critical global price stabilizer, artificially capping crude prices despite severe wartime supply shocks. By opting out of the global spot market, Beijing single-handedly prevented the U.S.-Iran conflict from driving oil into a devastating, triple-digit spiral."
" China's crude imports plummeted by over 41% in June, hitting a near-decade low of roughly 7.12 to 7.8 million barrels per day (bpd). According to JPMorgan calculations, this sudden retreat accounted for 74% of the entire world's drop in oil trade, effectively erasing the immediate deficit caused by the Middle East blockade."