ge=true
"That's precisely what may happen if the West succeeds in "isolating"
Russia, as Germany's leading news organization Der Spiegel has been warning.
Of course, all this is on the German language site, beamed to the homefolks;
the Germans don't bother trying to explain things to the Anglos any more.
Use Google translate if you want to read it."
"A fundament of American policy since Henry Kissinger engineered the great
opening to China more than four decades ago has been to keep Russia and
China from combining against the West. John Lewis Gaddis in his history of
the Cold War claims that the U.S. opening to China was the decisive event in
winning the Cold War; I have criticized this view in the past for
underestimating the importance of the Central Front in Europe, but it surely
was a critical dimension of U.S. policy."
"Presently, we may undo the work of the Cold War era and stand godfather to
a new Sino-Russian alliance. This without doubt would be the stupidest move
in the history of American foreign policy. Russia's economy is weak, but
Russia has considerable latent resources in military technology. Russia has
a limitless market for natural resources in China and a prospective partner
in military technology. If we continue to dismantle our defense capacity
while Russia and China nourish theirs, we will be in deep trouble."
"The best response to Putin's challenge would be a massive increase in
defense R&D, with a view to neutralizing Russia's perceived areas of
strength in missile and air defense technology (remember how SDI cowed
Gorbachev in the 1980s?). That would command China's respect and reduce
Russia's attractiveness as a prospective partner. The Crimea was, is, and
will be Russian, and it's pointless to cry over milk that was spilled in
1783. We need to think several moves ahead on the chessboard. Otherwise,
Chancellor Merkel is quite right: sanctions are pointless."
"As for the West's credibility: the stock price of Gazprom, the Russian
state company that ships gas to Europe, jumped more than 5% today while
Western leaders gathered to anathemize the beastly Russians. The market, as
usual, has the last laugh."
Yeah, a Sino-Russian alliance is a distinct and unfortunate possibility at
this point. Certainly Russia and China have had their differences in the
recent past , but then again they just might have an incentive now to "sign
articles" and combine forces, like 17th Century pirate companies, in order
to take advantage of the West's current weakness and confusion. With America
disarming, as well dismantling its industry, now's clearly the time to act.
By Epictetus
