General @ Thursday August 25, 2005 02:57 pm by WunderKraut
I wrote recently about the joint military exercises between the Russian and Chinese military. Today Ariel Cohen has a good op-ed summing up the new strategic partnership between the two countries.
Moscow and Beijing view U.S. predominance in the post-Cold War world as a threat to their power. A steadily improving Sino-Russian close partnership may lead to severely limiting, if not denying, U.S. strategic presence in the Eurasian land mass from the Pacific Ocean to the Baltic Sea.
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The exercises are a showcase for complex Russian weapons systems, which Moscow is anxious to sell to the People’s Liberation Army.
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The growing geostrategic cooperation of Russia and China against the U.S. also has an important geo-economic dimensions. Both China and Russia have a close relationship with the nuclear-arming Iran. China has signed 25-year, $50 billion deals to develop and import liquid natural gas from the giant South Pars field in Iran. And the Russian military-industrial and nuclear complex benefits from large-scale contracts with Iran, including construction of the Bushehr nuclear reactor.If the U.S. and the three European powers bring the case against Tehran to the U.N. Security Council, Russia and China may threaten to veto a resolution for using force to terminate Iran’s nuclear arms bid — or for imposing economic sanctions.
It is a good read. It will be very interesting how or if the U.S. does anything to entice Russia away from closer ties from China. I personally believe that there is nothing we can do. Russia is desperate for cold, hard cash and China is desperate for high tech weapons. Besides, they boy have large borders and having a friend on the other side will help them if they choose to counter U.S. hegemony in the region.
5 Responses to “China luvs Russia”
It’s hard to say what would happen in a worse case scenario. I know our military planners play this out all the time.
We know that we’re sorely hurting when things become a land war. Our forces are sorely outnumbered, however, our tech is a lot better. But, as stated before, that doesn’t necessarily make up for manpower.
We still have them smoked in airpower. And will continue to do so. It does seem to be the continuing mission of the U.S. to be the dominant force in the air. Oh, and the sea. Our Navy is pretty awesome, though stories like this are disturbing and speak to the trend of which you’re writing.
Another upcoming has much promise. It is obvious to me that a continued alliance between Russia and China will eventually lead to another world war. As you mention, I don’t think there will be much we can do to entice Russia away from China. An increasingly scary world continues to get scarier.
Darn it. The above comment (Mike, you don’t have a preview button!) should be amended to read:
Another upcoming technological advance has much promise …
I am with you. Like I have said previously, I try to be an optimist, but sometimes the future looks so cloudy. I we are wrong.
There is only so much optimism I can generate. It seriously makes me wonder just how much further away we are from the end of days.
What should America do?
Easy, continue to strengthen India. Balance of power baby.