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Interesting, had never thought from that angle, especially since Russia and China for most part seem chummy. But in reality, they are neighbors and China has (
by yumraj 6y ago
Interesting, had never thought from that angle, especially since Russia and China for most part seem chummy.
But in reality, they are neighbors and China has (or is in the process of) replacing Russia as the #2 power. So, while US has a lot to be careful for, it does indeed make sense that Russia has a more immediate threat.
If China becomes more powerful, it will start flexing muscle as the Russia-China border also, just like it flexes its muscle at its every other border.
Now, if we add that to the whole conspiracy theory about Trump and Russia, then things will start to add up even more.
Interesting...
- mullingitover 6y ago> But in reality, they are neighbors and China has (or is in the process of) replacing Russia as the #2 power. China is well beyond replacing Russia as a world power. Russia's GDP is ~1.658 trillion USD, which puts it below Canada. China's GDP? ~13.61 trillion USD. Russia is pretty much a washed up has-been with nukes.
- mc32 6y agoIt’s shocking how far they’ve fallen. But they let corruption take hold of everything, gov, economy, etc., so no one in their right minds would want to invest. They weren’t going to be the second economic power, but no reason they couldn’t have been number four behind Japan. But they could not help it, they squandered it.
- reducesuffering 6y agoRussian GDP is frequently touted as why they're overrated. However, the Russian kleptocracy believes real power is now coming from mastery of the cyberspace: disinformation, cybersecurity, offensive hacking capabilities, AI superiority[0]. This is a likely accurate understanding, and Russia has immense experience. [0]https://www.theverge.com/2017/9/4/16251226/russia-ai-putin-rule-the-world https://www.theverge.com/2017/9/4/16251226/russia-ai-putin-r...
- bserge 6y agoAll they can do (bar actual war) is make other countries worse. It's pretty sad, "if we can't be better than them, then we'll make them worse off than us" is a terrible strategy for the world.
- carierx1 6y agoMaking everyone else worse... the true Balkan curse.
- selimthegrim 6y agoIf we can’t work, at least we can fight.
- FooBarWidget 6y agoI don't think that theory is as true as you believe. China ceded a whole lot of territory to Russia without too much of a fuss. The whole of Mongolia was part of Qing, and they gave that up. Dittobfor Vladivostok. China's border disputes with India was created by the British, who just draw a line somewhere without consent. China offered to draw turn the Line of Actual Control into the official border, which means China would get about 30% of the land, but India rejected that offer, so now we are at a perpetual border conflict.
- mytailorisrich 6y agoThe PRC recognised Mongolia because it is not in a strategic location and because it needed the USSR. Contrast with the ROC (Taiwan), which officially still includes it as far as I know although it treats it as an independent country in practice.
- dirtyid 6y agoROC also used their only veto to block Mongolia from UN recognition in 55.