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What Happens Next In Russia - A 6-Step Recipe For Western Disaster
Submitted by Dmitry Orlov via Club Orlov blog,
Recent events, such as the overthrow of the government in Ukraine, the secession of Crimea and its decision to join the Russian Federation, the subsequent military campaign against civilians in Eastern Ukraine, western sanctions against Russia, and, most recently, the attack on the ruble, have caused a certain phase transition to occur within Russian society, which, I believe, is very poorly, if at all, understood in the west. This lack of understanding puts Europe at a significant disadvantage in being able to negotiate an end to this crisis.
Whereas prior to these events the Russians were rather content to consider themselves “just another European country,” they have now remembered that they are a distinct civilization, with different civilizational roots (Byzantium rather than Rome)—one that has been subject to concerted western efforts to destroy it once or twice a century, be it by Sweden, Poland, France, Germany, or some combination of the above. This has conditioned the Russian character in a specific set of ways which, if not adequately understood, is likely to lead to disaster for Europe and the world.
Lest you think that Byzantium is some minor cultural influence on Russia, it is, in fact, rather key. Byzantine cultural influences, which came along with Orthodox Christianity, first through Crimea (the birthplace of Christianity in Russia), then through the Russian capital Kiev (the same Kiev that is now the capital of Ukraine), allowed Russia to leapfrog across a millennium or so of cultural development. Such influences include the opaque and ponderously bureaucratic nature of Russian governance, which the westerners, who love transparency (if only in others) find so unnerving, along with many other things. Russians sometimes like to call Moscow the Third Rome—third after Rome itself and Constantinople—and this is not an entirely empty claim. But this is not to say that Russian civilization is derivative; yes, it has managed to absorb the entire classical heritage, viewed through a distinctly eastern lens, but its vast northern environment has transformed that heritage into something radically different.
Since this subject is of overwhelming complexity, I will focus on just four factors, which I find essential for understanding the transformation we are currently witnessing.
1. Taking offense
Western nations have emerged in an environment of limited resources and relentless population pressure, and this has to a large degree determined the way in which they respond when they are offended. For quite a long time, while centralized authority was weak, conflicts were settled through bloody conflict, and even a minor affront could cause former friends to become instant adversaries and draw their swords. This is because it was an environment in which standing your ground was key to survival.
In contrast, Russia emerged as a nation in an environment of almost infinite, although mostly quite diffuse, resources. It also drew from the bounty of the trade route that led from the Vikings to the Greeks, which was so active that Arab geographers believed that there was a salt-water strait linking the Black Sea with the Baltic, whereas the route consisted of rivers with a considerable amount of portage. In this environment, it was important to avoid conflict, and people who would draw their swords at a single misspoken word were unlikely to do well in it.
Thus, a very different conflict resolution strategy has emerged, which survives to this day. If you insult, aggrieve or otherwise harm a Russian, you are unlikely to get a fight (unless it happens to be a demonstrative beating held in a public setting, or a calculated settling of scores through violence). Instead, more likely than not, the Russian will simply tell you to go to hell, and then refuse to have anything further to do with you. If physical proximity makes this difficult, the Russian will consider relocating, moving in any direction that happens to be away from you. So common is this speech act in practice that it has been abbreviated to a monosyllabic utterance: “????!” (“Pshol!”) and can be referred to simply as “???????” (literally, “to send”). In an environment where there is an almost infinite amount of free land to settle, such a strategy makes perfect sense. Russians live like settled people, but when they have to move, they move like nomads, whose main method of conflict resolution is voluntary relocation.
This response to grievance as something permanent is a major facet of the Russian culture, and westerners who do not understand it are unlikely to achieve an outcome they would like, or even understand. To a westerner, an insult can be resolved by saying something like “I am sorry!” To a Russian that's pretty much just noise, especially if it is being emitted by somebody who has already been told to go to hell. A verbal apology that is not backed up by something tangible is one of these rules of politeness, which to the Russians are something of a luxury. Until a couple of decades ago, the standard Russian apology was “?????????” (“izviniáius'”), which can be translated literally as “I excuse myself.” Russia is now a much more polite country, but the basic cultural pattern remains in place.
Although purely verbal apologies are worthless, restitution is not. Setting things right may involve parting with a prized possession, or making a significant new pledge, or announcing an important change of direction. The point is, these all involve taking pivotal actions, not just words, because beyond a certain point words can only make the situation worse, taking it from the “Go to hell” stage to the even less copacetic “Let me show you the way” stage.
2. Dealing with invaders
Russia has a long history of being invaded from every direction, but especially from the west, and Russian culture has evolved a certain mindset which is difficult for outsiders to comprehend. First of all, it is important to realize that when Russians fight off an invasion (and having the CIA and the US State Department run Ukraine with the help of Ukrainian Nazis qualifies as an invasion) they are not fighting for territory, at least not directly. Rather, they are fighting for Russia as a concept. And the concept states that Russia has been invaded numerous times, but never successfully. In the Russian mindset, invading Russia successfully involves killing just about every Russian, and, as they are fond of saying, “They can't kill us all.” (“??? ???? ?? ??????.”) Population can be restored over time (it was down 22 million at the end of World War II) but the concept, once lost, would be lost forever. It may sound nonsensical to a westerner to hear Russians call their country “a country of princes, poets and saints,” but that's what it is—it is a state of mind. Russia doesn't have a history—it is its history.
Because the Russians fight for the concept of Russia rather than for any given chunk of Russian territory, they are always rather willing to retreat—at first. When Napoleon invaded Russia, fully planning to plunder his way across the countryside, he found the entire countryside torched by the retreating Russians. When he finally occupied Moscow, it too went up in flames. Napoleon camped out for a bit, but eventually, realizing that there was nothing more to be done (attack Siberia?) and that his army would starve and die of exposure if they remained, he beat a hasty and shameful retreat, eventually abandoning his men to their fate. As they retreated, another facet of Russian cultural heritage came to the fore: every peasant from every village that got torched as the Russians retreated was in the forefront as the Russians advanced, itching for a chance to take a pot shot at a French soldier.
Similarly, the German invasion during World War II was at first able to make rapid advances, taking a lot of territory, while the Russians equally swiftly retreated and evacuated their populations, relocating entire factories and other institutions to Siberia and resettling families in the interior of the country. Then the German advance stopped, reversed, and eventually turned into a rout. The standard pattern repeated itself, with the Russian army breaking the invader's will while most of the locals that found themselves under occupation withheld cooperation, organized as partisans and inflicted maximum possible damage on the retreating invader.
Another Russian adaptation for dealing with invaders is to rely on the Russian climate to do the job. A standard way of ridding a Russian village house of vermin is simply to not heat it; a few days at 40 below or better and the cockroaches, bedbugs, lice, nits, weevils, mice, rats are all dead. It works with invaders too. Russia is the world's most northern country. Canada is far north, but most of its population is spread along its southern border, and it has no major cities above the Arctic Circle, while Russia has two. Life in Russia in some ways resembles life in outer space or on the open ocean: impossible without life support. The Russian winter is simply not survivable without cooperation from the locals, and so all they have to do to wipe out an invader is withhold cooperation. And if you think that an invader can secure cooperation by shooting a few locals to scare the rest, see above under “Taking offense.”
3. Dealing with foreign powers
Russia owns almost the entire northern portion of the Eurasian continent, which comprises something like 1/6 of the Earth's dry surface. That, by Earth standards, is a lot of territory. This is not an aberration or an accident of history: throughout their history, the Russians were absolutely driven to provide for their collective security by gaining as much territory as possible. If you are wondering what motivated them to undertake such a quest, see “Dealing with invaders” above.
If you think that foreign powers repeatedly attempted to invade and conquer Russia in order to gain access to its vast natural resources, then you are wrong: the access was always there for the asking. The Russians are not exactly known for refusing to sell their natural resources—even to their potential enemies. No, what Russia's enemies wanted was to be able to tap into Russia's resources free of charge. To them, Russia's existence was an inconvenience, which they attempted to eliminate through violence.
What they achieved instead was a higher price for themselves, once their invasion attempt failed. The calculus is simple: the foreigners want Russia's resources; to defend them, Russia needs a strong, centralized state with a big, powerful military; ergo, the foreigners should be made to pay, to support Russia's state and military. Consequently, most of the Russian state's financial needs are addressed through export tariffs, on oil and natural gas especially, rather than by taxing the Russian population. After all, the Russian population is taxed heavily enough by having to fight off periodic invasions; why tax them more? Thus, the Russian state is a customs state: it uses customs duties and tariffs to extract funds from the enemies who would destroy it and use these funds to defend itself. Since there is no replacement for Russia's natural resources, the more hostile the outside world acts toward Russia, the more it will end up paying for Russia's national defense.
Note that this policy is directed at foreign powers, not at foreign-born people. Over the centuries, Russia has absorbed numerous immigrants: from Germany during the 30 years' war; from France after the French revolution. More recent influxes have been from Vietnam, Korea, China and Central Asia. Last year Russia absorbed more immigrants than any other country except for the United States, which is dealing with an influx from countries on its southern border, whose populations its policies have done much to impoverish. Moreover, the Russians are absorbing this major influx, which includes close to a million from war-torn Ukraine, without much complaint. Russia is a nation of immigrants to a greater extent than most others, and is more of a melting pot than the United States.
4. Thanks, but we have our own
One more interesting Russian cultural trait is that Russians have always felt compelled to excel in all categories, from ballet and figure-skating to hockey and football to space flight and microchip manufacturing. You may think of champagne as a trademark French product, but last I checked “????????? ??????????” (“Soviet champagne”) was still selling briskly around New Year's Eve, and not only in Russia but in Russian shops in the US because, you see, the French stuff may be nice, but it just doesn't taste sufficiently Russian. For just about every thing you can imagine there is a Russian version of it, which the Russians often feel is better, and sometimes can claim they invented in the first place (the radio, for instance, was invented by Popov, not by Marconi). There are exceptions (tropical fruit is one example) and they are allowed provided they come from a “brotherly nation” such as Cuba. That was the pattern during the Soviet times, and it appears to be coming back to some extent now.
During the late Brezhnev/Andropov/Gorbachev “stagnation” period Russian innovation indeed stagnated, along with everything else, and Russia lost ground against the west technologically (but not culturally). After the Soviet collapse Russians became eager for western imports, and this was quite normal considering that Russia wasn't producing much of anything at the time. Then, during the 1990s, there came the era of western compradors, who dumped imported products on Russia with the long-term goal of completely wiping out domestic industry and making Russia into a pure raw materials supplier, at which point it would be defenseless against an embargo and easily forced to surrender its sovereignty. This would be an invasion by non-military means, against which Russia would find itself defenseless.
This process ran quite far before it hit a couple of major snags. First, Russian manufacturing and non-hydrocarbon exports rebounded, doubling several times in the course of a decade. The surge included grain exports, weapons, and high-tech. Second, Russia found lots of better, cheaper, friendlier trading partners around the world. Still, Russia's trade with the west, and with the EU specifically, is by no means insignificant. Third, the Russian defense industry has been able to maintain its standards, and its independence from imports. (This can hardly be said about the defense firms in the west, which depend on Russian titanium exports.)
And now there has come the perfect storm for the compradors: the ruble has partially devalued in response to lower oil prices, pricing out imports and helping domestic producers; sanctions have undermined Russia's confidence in the reliability of the west as suppliers; and the conflict over Crimea has boosted the Russians' confidence in their own abilities. The Russian government is seizing this opportunity to champion companies that can quickly effect import replacement for imports from the west. Russia's central bank has been charged with financing them at interest rates that make import replacement even more attractive.
Some people have been drawing comparisons between the period we are in now and the last time oil prices dropped—all the way to $10/barrel—in some measure precipitating the Soviet collapse. But this analogy is false. At the time, the Soviet Union was economically stagnant and dependent on western credit to secure grain imports, without which it wouldn't have been able to raise enough livestock to feed its population. It was led by the feckless and malleable Gorbachev—an appeaser, a capitulator, and a world-class windbag whose wife loved to go shopping in London. The Russian people despised him and referred to him as “Mishka the Marked,” thanks to his birthmark. And now Russia is resurgent, is one of the world's largest grain exporters, and is being led by the defiant and implacable President Putin who enjoys an approval rating of over 80%. In comparing pre-collapse USSR to Russia today, commentators and analysts showcase their ignorance.
Conclusions
This part almost writes itself. It's a recipe for disaster, so I'll write it out as a recipe.
1. Take a nation of people who respond to offense by damning you to hell, and refusing to having anything more to do with you, rather than fighting. Make sure that this is a nation whose natural resources are essential for keeping your lights on and your houses heated, for making your passenger airliners and your jet fighters, and for a great many other things. Keep in mind, a quarter of the light bulbs in the US light up thanks to Russian nuclear fuel, whereas a cut-off of Russian gas to Europe would be a cataclysm of the first order.
2. Make them feel that they are being invaded by installing a government that is hostile to them in a territory that they consider part of their historical homeland. The only truly non-Russian part of the Ukraine is Galicia, which parted company many centuries ago and which, most Russians will tell you, “You can take to hell with you.” If you like your neo-Nazis, you can keep your neo-Nazis. Also keep in mind how the Russians deal with invaders: they freeze them out.
3. Impose economic and financial sanctions on Russia. Watch in dismay as your exporters start losing money when in instant retaliation Russia blocks your agricultural exports. Keep in mind that this is a country that, thanks to surviving a long string of invasion attempts, traditionally relies on potentially hostile foreign states to finance its defense against them. If they fail to do so, then it will resort to other ways of deterring them, such as freezing them out. “No gas for NATO members” seems like a catchy slogan. Hope and pray that it doesn't catch on in Moscow.
4. Mount an attack on their national currency, causing it to lose part of its value on par with a lower price of oil. Watch in dismay as Russian officials laugh all the way to the central bank because the lower ruble has caused state revenues to remain unchanged in spite of lower oil prices, erasing a potential budget deficit. Watch in dismay as your exporters go bankrupt because their exports are priced out of the Russian market. Keep in mind, Russia has no national debt to speak of, runs a negligible budget deficit, has plentiful foreign currency reserves and ample gold reserves. Also keep in mind that your banks have loaned hundreds of billions of dollars to Russian businesses (which you have just deprived of access to your banking system by imposing sanctions). Hope and pray that Russia doesn't put a freeze on debt repayments to western banks until the sanctions are lifted, since that would blow up your banks.
5. Watch in dismay as Russia signs major natural gas export deals with everyone except you. Is there going to be enough gas left for you when they are done? Well, it appears that this no longer a concern for the Russians, because you have offended them, and, being who they are, they told you to go to hell (don't forget to take Galicia with you) and will now deal with other, friendlier countries.
6. Continue to watch in dismay as Russia actively looks for ways to sever most of the trade links with you, finding suppliers in other parts of the world or organizing production for import replacement.
But now comes a surprise—an underreported one, to say the least. Russia has just offered the EU a deal. If the EU refuses to join the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership with the US (which, by the way, would hurt it economically) then it can join the Customs Union with Russia. Why freeze yourselves out when we can all freeze out Washington instead? This is the restitution Russia would accept for the EU's offensive behavior with regard to the Ukraine and the sanctions. Coming from a customs state, it is a most generous offer. A lot went into making it: the recognition that the EU poses no military threat to Russia and not much of an economic one either; the fact that the European countries are all very cute and tiny and lovable, and make tasty cheeses and sausages; the understanding that their current crop of national politicians is feckless and beholden to Washington, and that they need a big push in order to understand where their nations' true interests lie... Will the EU accept this offer, or will they accept Galicia as a new member and “freeze out”?
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What happens next, every good US hacker defects for hot Russian tang. Brain Drain, classic Putin empire-class move.
You can see the ads for said tang in the margins here ---> and over there <--- (unles you have them blocked).
Dude I just browsed this site for the first time on my toilet tablet and you're right!
God I love Russian women.
be careful or you will likely be correspond with a man, while paying
My wife is Polish - I get it!
Classical wrong defection direction.
Yeah but that big bush's inflection is causin' my erection.
Beautiful article. Thanks.
Long ago, the US was a nation, too. No?
Long ago.
Orlov and Russian History should be required reading at the State Department.
Instead they probably read Kissinger's musings and ICBM launch manuals.
Required reading to explain Russian self-delusion and mental instability? Why bother, we've known about those for generations.
Funny how Russian government revenues are remaining the same (per Orlov) when half of their revenues are from the sale of oil, and oil price is denominated in dollars, and oil price is 40% of what it was only a short time ago, and rubles are now fetching half as many dollars as they did six months ago -- so Russia's government income should be slashed by around 40%. But I guess "it's the same!" is some sort of Russian logic. (See above about self-delusion.)
Sure, sure, this is true even when it is false.
Keep your propaganda. This kind of rhetorics is useless.
There is zero net impact on the Ruble as the rise in USD has offset the net decline in the price of oil... Nice try, but no cigar...
Hey Harrison Huilo, no wonder you Ukies are getting ass raped by the Soros and the IMF, when you can't even understand basic macro economics. If oil revenues drop by 50% and are paid 5in USD, and the ruble drops by 50%, the net effect to the government in terms of ruble revenues are neutral.
Instead imports increase by 50%, opening the door for import substitution. Inflation ticks up. The main problems are the very high interest rates in Russia are choking off growth and anyone who has loans denominated in USD but earns income in rubles is basically screwed.
Now comes the best part: if Russia becomes unable to pay her debts due to economic attacks targeting her currency by the USSA, then Russia can declare a debt moratorium. Given that trillions in bonds and derivatives are already under water due to the collapse in oil prices, the added effect of a russian default will make 1998 and Lehman brothers look like a bad joke. If the USD system collapses, Russia still has her oil, gas and resources to sell. What does the USSA have to offer?
Their good faith? Bwahahahahaha...
Russia has debts?
Are you sure you read the article?
You didn't read it correctly, stupid fuck. Russian COMPANIES have foreign debts -- not the gov.
Dmitry,
You can keep your darn stinky Europe. I will take Cuba.
Sincerely yours,
Zbigniew Brzezinski
EI, I think you are reaching on that one. Zbig and the elitetards still think they can have it all and dictate the terms.
zhandax
Sorry, I should have had put more content to my sarcastic post.
Anyway, the elites that are running the world are not retards, to the contrary. Retards, because they are very misinformed, are the masses; the general public.
The problem now for the US Empire (US lifestyle) is that we live in a finite planet but with a growing population. So, the resources to keep US lifestyle (Empire) will start to become more difficult to acquire.
I think Orlov has great understand of these overwhelming complex issues.
I just think that the Neoliberal ideals are about to start failing with the establishment of EURASIA.
Then, it will attract (push) the Neocons to act for self-preservation.
It is just a matter when the Neocons will succeed destabilizing (Coup D’état) EURASIA (mainly Russia) from inside.
That will trigger Russia to act. There’s your other war in Europe.
Will Russia bring it to America?
You tell us.
~"You can see the ads for said tang in the margins here ---> and over there <---"~
Hate to tell ya' Urban, but them ads are based on your previous browsing habits. And yeah, I have no ads on the sidebars thanks to NoScript and AdBlock, (no popups either).
Relevant tip: Using both hands is technically an orgy.
:)
Any red-blooded American man who is tired of being pussy-whipped by spoiled American princesses would do well to visit one of those websites.
Top Coder Statistics:
http://community.topcoder.com/tc?module=AlgoRank
Russians 20 to 30 of top 50 normally
More chine recently
more Poles than Americans last I looked
Before these wideloping rants about wounded national pride and blaming that on the West, look in the mirror. Russia is an autoritarian state with an economy the size of California which failed to diversify when it had the chance. It would be better for everybody to direct all that macho wounded national pride to something useful restructuring the economy for instance, creating conditions in which private enterprice and innovation can bloom..
"creating conditions in which private enterprise and innovation can bloom..."
Oh, like in the US and the West in general? Haha....no doubt.
Well Apple is the perfect example, thats if you are in the business of selling suicide nets to large innovative enterprises.
Xiaomei sold 60 million phones last year, up from zero three years ago. Apple doesn't even manufacture their own stuff, smart little Asian hands do. Next is Amazon versus Alibaba, let me see, do I want to buy from a midleman or direct from the guy who made the friggin' thing. Look up the price you can get if you want 100,000 Android phones per month.
As with any organization, check their debt levels vs revenues... Russia vs California -or- Russia vs the USSA -or- Russia and China vs the western banking cabal? Anyone that still believes in the western hegemonic model is either ignorant, a fool or a troll... Take your pick...
Apple is the most innovative company in the world!
They invented the question mark, overpricing products, and offshoring suicide production schedules and pay!
I have an autoritarian in the garage, and it runs great.
California? LOL! Emerging bankrupt Mexicali shithole. Hopefully more and more people pull the plug in TV and Hollywood's shit from the fraud state of Mexifornia.
Russia is advancing, growing and developing. California is imploding and when the fiat fails it will only get worse.
Also, Russia has water.
Well, snow.
That counts.
I hear they have little water*
* "little water" = vodka.
The enterprice is too high, and will be replaced with cheap Chinese enter.
stpioc, you are a poster child for US main stream media. They couldn't say it any better.
yer. lets take a side by side comparison of Russian vs californian debt and balance of payments
even with the rubles crash, dude, the ruskies dont need no stinkin diversification
What stpioc and CNN are saying is "Russia could have been like Modern Amurica, but took a wrong turn."
However, any society that aspires to be like Modern America is, in fact, choosing death. Russians may not collectively be saints, but current external manipulations, and their own instincts, have helped them choose life.
"They couldn't say it any better"
Uh, well, YES, They could.
They'd use correct grammar and spelling, for starters.
I'm as sympathetic to Russia and Putin as most here but, It appears to me that Russian Nationalism is on the rise now..... right along with nationalism in France and Germany and Greece and most other Euro countries..... When a guy like Alexander Dugin can be in the, "in" crowd and have so much national influence as he does.... It speaks to me of nationalism.... and with the ruble going down, he'll probably get even more traction in the political theater..... after all.... Hitler could have never gained power if Germany were a land of milk and honey when he came into the political game.....
I don't know how much political power Dugin has.... but, I do know he's quite popular in Russia and has advised Putin on some issues in the past..... He's got a following..... and if nationalism rises enough and Putin doesn't act enough then you have to wonder if someone like Dugin will come to power to resist the west and put Russia to her rightful place in the Russian's eyes..... From what I read, Dugin has quite a following among the hardliners.
Now, all that said, Russian's actions in the Ukraine all seem logical and just to me about how they've handled it.... The US and NATO have been anything but correct in any of this but, as with most history... all you have to do is look at see how a country responds to poverty or a crashing economy to see nationalism on the rise..... not just for Russia but for all of Europe..... as we all do in Greece... the marches in France and Germany.... Russia is the same.... If you are Russian and homosexual... you will now be denied a driver's license because you are mentally unfit.... most of the Jews in Europe are watching closely because they are now being targeted by isolated incidents of hate....
I'd say this article has it's points but, the overall mood is not what this article appears to want to show..... after all.... the last time homosexuals and jews were targeted in europe, a lot of bad stuff followed.....
I'm sure I'll get some down votes but, I really do see it this way.... For the most part, Putin has acted pretty well in all of this but to say that Russians aren't on a nationalistic track is wrong, IMHO.
CNN couldn't have said it any better.
The US economy?? LOL
The US economy - what is this?
It's the economy print and export dollars?
Or it is the second part of the tale about of Baron Minhauzen?
Russia has 13% Flat Tax
How much California?
you know nothing about Russia
It just wouldn't be the same without some Dmitry "exceptionalism" ;-)
I like the part where they're keeping our lightbulbs on with nuke fuel imports... he neglects to mention we're only doing it to burn through their bomb stockpile per mutual agreement... yeah, thanks for that...
edit: don't believe me? chew on this... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_uranium_reserves
what matters is how much the average russian citizen, soldier, politician, fill in the blank, cares about what happens in ukraine.
the u.s. hasn't fought motivated, well armed people successfullly in quite some time.
in fact motivated, poorly armed ones have done all right lately, see iraq and afghanistan.
I find it more than a little ironic (and depressing) that the people who come on here touting some semblance of "democracy" in a republic, banging on the oligarchs and the inequality of the rich vs the poor turn on a dime and defend a nation steeped in the history of the crushing foot of monarchies, of kings & queens, of Stalin & gulags and some sawed off runt who was and is, a gear in that machinery.
Exceptional ;-)
What happens next is the oldest play in the play book and aptly named of course...
Mother Roooshia vs. Fatherland Homeland rest of the west.
Always dualities, everyone else (China, India, Yewrope, Eastasia) will be fittied into the Axis/Ally script.
Russia is also Orthodox. The frigging western world is currently rainbow coloured Homodox. Rest of the world is Heterodox fast being propagandized into Homodoxy.
I think the sleeping prophet had prophesied this time well, Japan falling into total disaster/disppearence mode and Russia rising.
China is not the main story, it is the factory that will provide the shit people will sling at each other.
India...hmmmm.......office boy, following orders.
As an aside, russians make crazy fighting machines.....just amazing...I speak from first hand experience. As much as a machine of death and destruction can be beautiful....ships, planes....
dig this ori...russian tank with mig engines mounted instead of gun putting out rowdy fires
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nM3IDkIzp2w
Russian and Eastern European innovation is amazing, always.
The "westernization" of technology has not been a good thing...
A "connected" world that spies on you. NOT COOL!
That about sums up western sneakery to me SB.....
that fire fighting turbine was awesome. seriously awesome. way cooler than boots and coots using dynamite to blow up the oxygen to shut down an oil fire.
Remember, they've spied on you ever since you allowed their wires onto your property.
One time it was high-volt, and even the ones who denied Edison's Lights relented for the low-volt comfort of telephonic interaction.
Accomplices need to understand their part and adapt, friend.
Indeed Barnaby, we are all complicit by our sins of lazy, convenience addled omission...
Give me convenience or give me death.
Signed: a US citizen
Well said amigo. Their {wires, pipes, architectures, ..} , their rules - there's no mystery to it. Adapt to play, but not to stay, unless you want to live in the game full-time. :-)
@ORI: The Eastern 'westernization' of technology came through in the benevolent front of Sploogle, among other data and centralization services. India is Sploogle's bitch now. Owning everything, everyone, byte by byte, finger by finger.
India is this era's great lost civilization SB, without a doubt. The Dutch and Brits did a long 800 year number to totally eviscerate this rather amazing nation.
At this moment though, they have won, completely....it's quite a time live here with open eyes....helter skelter and hooked is how I see/say it :-)
Dutch and Brit did physical damage, and plenty of cultural, but not simultaneous and individual mental damage to all people's cores in the extent that the modern inquisition has. The modern computer technology (as 'invented', produced, and sold by the state) cannot co-exist with old ways, old stories. Myth is rendered useless. Mysticism is lost - no dialogue with the stars, not real ones at least. Hell, they're barely visible. Look, 'stars' on teevee. Thousands of years of passing down story, lost in an instant of self-absorption. Not so much sad as it is a travesty.
That solar flare is long overdue.
No doubt, TeeVee is the ultimate tool of perception twisting with bolly/holly/tolly wood right there along side.
The real stars are dimming, no doubt.
The old stories were sung, live and in person....
That is why we are and will be the troubadores for the new rising SB....
No Doubt....
ORI, don't underestimate Facefuck, Twatter etc
At the Kiev airport (Borispil) they use a huge turbine engine mounted on a truck to clear snow.
Wow! Nice one chunga amd I know fire apparatus quite well. Never seen that before.
Homodoxy
couldn't have said it better ORI.
Why freeze yourselves out when we can all freeze out Washington instead?
Wow. A lot of Merikans would love to see Washington frozen too.
Always good to get Dmitriy's viewpoint. It is not even The West vs Russia. There are particular players looking to loot Russia (and let's be honest, anyone else they find easy pickings) for the 100% discount. These are extra-national players, though some may nominally appear to be for one country. I hope that Russia is willing to differentiate between these Banksters (really, take only the top 100-300) and the populations/flags they hide behind. We've seen that some banksters meet some unkind fates, but most of these current ones are too low level, and likely done by western big banksters. A Rockefeller did die (last year), as did a Rothschild (though back in '96).
I'll point out this little gem I found surfing yesterday: http://www.boilingfrogspost.com/2015/01/08/bfp-exclusive-a-rothschild-pl...
I don't want WWIII to happen. It is pointless. All we will be doing is sinking our collective planetary development down, while the same jackals will grow fat on our carcasses.
America began with slavery - the looting of labor.
Looting of labor? What is that exactly?
SLAVES were sold by their countries as a commodity for grain, tobacco, cotton. SLAVES were kidnapped by their own people and sold at auction in exchange for goods.
Wallets make the decisions in this world. And when there is nothing left to trade for absolute necessities, history tells us that selling human beings for labor becomes an option. (Which should concern everyone)
Indians on all continents were caught off guard, just like America right fucking now, because they were too busy infighting or meddling in others affairs. It's the price we pay for not minding the store.
You might want to look into WHO owned the most slaves pr household. WHO owned the ships used for the slavetrade. WHO captained the ships.
If you could see Washinton frozen it would be a good thing. They do too much damage when in session.
Babushka
you could drive yourself insane, absolutely insane reading this very long piece over and over and over and over and ...
And this is the beauty of America.
WE JUST DON'T CARE.
I can't speak for the rest of the country of course...but I'm perfectly happy being in la-la land. I really do want to fall asleep under a tree and wake up forty years later and find out my ex wife is finally gone.
To my knowledge the only thing that Americans can't stand is some oaf beating up on the little guy. It's unexplainable...inexplicable really. "Happens every time" though. Americans do not even think about when we do it...and indeed is truly and profoundly an odd modus vivendi. Sometimes your not even helping yourself when you do it.
I think Russians see Americans as "up to something" in Ukraine but what I see is Americans just trying to "even the score" with some convoluted yet seemingly genetic disposition towards "fair play."
Not fairness...the USA is as harsh as a Russian Winter too...but somewhere in all the suffering and death that was the folks who made here was "the word" and that word overwhelming been "there might not be rules in this world but there sure will be when you're dead."
There is no Tolstoy in America....no Great Epic that defines...."Americans.". Instead we have Lincoln....staring at us...watching us...knowing we have made a GRAVE ERROR....and that this ERROR will be rectified...in real time, in real space.
The irony is you can mess with America all you want and usually we dont do a darn thing. We're nerdy, wimpy....generally weak when confronted by the mere idea of superority.
But when you start pounding the snot out of your neighbor for no good reason suddenly "we're nuking you, we're banging your wife, we're calling you bad names and insulting you"...the whole gamut.
And then....finally stop what you're doing....or you will find yourself drifting off into oblivion...like you never mattered at all because
Of course
People who do these things never do or never did.
Are you stoned?
What a big disappointment your comment was. I resent you for forcing others to carry you weight.
United We Stand, Divided We Fall.
Only takes the perception that ALL THE PEOPLE ARE UNITED to change the course of this tide because they will be pulled apart limb by limb otherwise.
You lazy fuckers who brag about sending civilization into an irreversible state of slavery for eternity are going to have to answer for that if we turn this around. Weak links in the chain should have no voice at all and a small place in the world, perhaps sweeping the sidewalks.
Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Syria, Libya, Lebanon, Yemen, Cuba, Venezuela, Argentina, Chili, Peru, Nicaragua, Panama, El Salvador, the Philippines, Korea, Albania, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Haiti, Ecuador, The Congo, Brazil, Dominican Republic, Uruguay, Jamaica, Grenada, ....victims of America's brutal economic and miltary predatory operations, its School of the Americas offering training in torture and revolution and killing squads, the CIA's involvement in drugs, human trafficking and destabilising legitimate governments, American multinationals using the American government and military for their global predatory practices - I could go on and on, but surely you get the point. Your American Dream Defender is nothing but a myth to feed its people - the REAL American is a criminal bully who will stop at nothing to subjugate the entire world into everlasting submission and slavery.
Fuck your government which has brought so much pain to the world serving Israeli and multinational interests.
FINALLY, somebody else besides Jim Willie who gets it. Did we mention that the Russians play a mean game of chess?
Good article - an interesting take on the Russian mindset.
Agreed. I find this more useful than most of the Western analysts' narrow short term views that assume the opponent is just like us but holding a different hand of cards. I like things to make sense, so this article makes me smile.
Indeed. But isn't that the central conceit of Multikulturalism? That "We" are all The Same.
Multiculturalism doesn't make sense, nor is it remotely true. It is, however, the State Religion for the emerging Global State, aka New World Order. That is why such obtuse, scientifically unfounded nonsense is pushed so hard, and its penalties meted out to heretics so harsh.
Multiculturalism says Everyone can belong, because the Entity pushing the Dogma seeks to rule everyone.
it is... turns out they're as delusional as we are...
We will win this for Mother Russia!
i loved all the latest Russian models at the Car show, computer show, electronics show, boat show, pharma show etc., etc
Siberian wind blowing hard here...USA trade or Russian Customs Union thats a tuff one for Europe.
Maybe then they'll stop hacking my Facebook, twitter, Google, LinkedIN, WhatsAPp, SPotify, GPS, MineCraft and stick w/ their Sputnik tek.
Just deliver the Germans the gas they paid for C&F and stop blaming everyone else in between
goosie gander
Sure, when the Frenchies deliver the Mistral the Rooshans paid for.
Zip it up, dude. Your double standard is hanging out.
That Customs Union you poke fun at is the future - it connects a land-based trade with the East to Europe, something far more advantageous to trade growth than the current sea-based model which is dominted by the Five Eyes. Indeed, the USSA is scared shitless of this deal as it would freeze them out of a huge chunk of global trade.
As is typical of Westerners, you tend to see things in terms of next month's bottom line, ignoring the long-term implications. The Russians and the Chinese see this future clearly and are busy preparing for it. Those parts of Europe that can see this will begin making plans as well. The rest will freeze.
Maybe then they'll stop hacking my Facebook, twitter, Google, LinkedIN, WhatsAPp, SPotify, GPS, MineCraft
Yep, american so-called innovation the last 20 years is nothing more than new ways to deliver ads, or spy on their customers. I'll take something in the real world, please. You can have your faggot cyber world to yourself.
THis is hilarious. Russia is nothing but another middle-income oligarchy with a particularly crappy economy and a vicious alcolholism problem.
They used to have some pretty good scientists and engiiners when the Soviet Union collapsed. But all htose are long since gone.
"Keep in mind, Russia has no national debt to speak of, runs a negligible budget deficit, has plentiful foreign currency reserves and ample gold reserves."
this sentence alone should give readers a clue about the ignorance of this author......."russia" has no debt, but every one of their state owned companies, which of course is not counted in the sovereign debt column, is swimming in debt....russia is having huge problems trying to keep the tap flowing for state owned companies since they have been frozen out of the credit markets while the ruble sinks and oil sinks with it.......what a total shit article...hey orlov, wake up..russia is getting their ass kicked right now...plain fact.....
Not that your post needs any help, you've said most of it already... But in this article they're telling us that the more we 'fuck with' Russia, the more the natural resources will cost? Correct me if I'm wrong here, and I could be, but I believe the price of everything Russia exports is in a gad damned free fall right now.
So, Russia funds itself by taxing things it sells to the rest of the world. But the price on the things it sells is tanking. And the tax it collects is shrinking. And the 'companies' that sell this stuff are taking a bath... So the best way to defeat Russia is to play the game and shit all over it's economy. Something that's really easy to do, because they are, in essence, a fucking gas station.
Yeah, great game of chess there guys. Meanwhile the west has moved on to MMORPG like Eve and ever more complex games. Chess... Putin better learn a new game and fast, cause Russia's fucked if he's trying to move a wooden horse in a battle with lazers.
Yeah, kinda. But Putin is pure gangster, he knows he's scum and doesn't care. You put him in a corner, he'll fight like a cornered rat. You have to be prepared for violence.
ahem
Putin -- this almighty blogger -- hurled headlong flaming from our ethereal post, with hideous ruin and combustion, and reaped three upvotes and eight downers.
nice.
He walks out of the G20 summit early because he sat by himself, was minimized in the precious photo-ops, and was called to task by every politician there for invading Uraine.
This is guy scum and seriously doesn't care.
otoh
Obama wouldn't have gone to the G20 if he were in Putin's shoes, the way he didn't go the 'je suis Charlie' rally in Paris.
If you want to put down Putin, compare him and Russia to an exemplary leader of a country in today's world.
But you can't because there are none.
According to thems that knows (Jane's), the RF scientists have built some pretty impressive hypersonic missiles since the end of the USSR.
And, of course, you conveniently forgot to mention 'Khibiny' (no, not that goat meat and cabbage stroganoff you liked so much on your first visit)
http://www.voltairenet.org/article185860.html
WHICH THE PENTAGON NEVER DENIED HAPPENED
Live in your dream world, sir, and, when things get worse, live in your bomb shelter world.
If the reports are true, gotta hand it to the Russkies for turning off the CIC on the USS Donald Cook! Sweet.
Both the US and Russia acknowledge that the SU 24 overflew the Donald Cook a dozen times.
The US only acknowledges that it was peculiar behavior. According to the Russians
No doubt, it was difficult for the US Navy to read what had happened and why the Russian plane made 12 passes. Whether or not the Russians should have shown the US what they could do is another question. Unless they have a grab bag full of similiar surprises.Russians are Masters of Propulsion
No they still have a lot of great scientists and software programmers - some of the best in the world. The best anti virus and security software is Russian.
The USSA has about 46 million people on welfare and many are named Trayvon. The USSA is a bigger joke when you see the criminals at the top and the military, media, intelligence community and idiots who support them. The USSA is a joke now.
Go watch some videos of people in Russia walking around today in cities and other places. Russia looks more like America in the 1950s then America does today.
Indeed Freddie, any serious scientist has to be able to read Russian.
You certainly do NOT know your facts. Do you know that the US uses RUSSIAN rockets to launch satellites?! Jeez... talk about ignorant.
ignorant post
And ours? The best and brightest have been placed on the sidelines as global warming deniers... The rest no longer pursue real science dur to low pay and high college debt load. Other physicists end up working for the banks or fed and well, you see the result,
"It was led by the feckless and malleable Gorbachev—an appeaser, a capitulator, and a world-class windbag ..."
LOL
Patriotism is such a stupid thing that humans do and it is the cause of most major issues in human history. To take pride in the land mass between invisible borders that you were most likely born in (meaning you didn't even choose it) is a clear sign that if the theory of macro evolution is indeed legit then humans are not that evolved and really are basically just talking chimps who because of that ability think they are so intelligent and special. Everyone is of the same species so to act like others who live on a different land mass surrounded by iinvisble borders is inferior to you or different than you is absurd.
I wish every single human who is all rah rah patriotic and doesn't see they are the same as the rest of the world's 7+ billion humanoids would just cease to exist. The world would be so much better if it were only occupied by people who don't give a shit about where they live and realize they are earthlings rather than some specific species of whatever country they live in.
This also goes for those super religious folk who think they are something special because of the religion they believe in and those who aren't of the religion are inferior to them.
I haven't a clue how anyone of above average intelligence isn't disgusted and embarrassed by the human species.
Patriotism means saying "I regret I have only one life to give for my country."
And meaning it.
No - if you are in the military - you give your life up for the banksters. They appreciate your sacrifice.
Some still fight for the republic. Even if it only exists on a barge in the Potomac.
Dude - Abe Lincoln sold us out to the banksters about 154 years ago. Abe got a bright idea after the gencoide of 1.1 million American men for nothing or really the banksters and $$$. The Republic died then.
Abe thought he was the boss.
They told Abe they were the boss at Ford's Theater.
613,000 men
i'd rather have my country die for me. grace slick
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ldt8UwJFA-k
"War is a Racket" Major General Smedley D. Butler USMC
...and piss on your grave as a token of respect.
Mark Twain on patriotism:
"Man is the only Patriot. He sets himself apart in his own country, under his own flag, and sneers at the other nations, and keeps multitudinous uniformed assassins on hand at heavy expense to grab slices of other people's countries, and keep them from grabbing slices of his. And in the intervals between campaigns he washes the blood of his hands and works for "the universal brotherhood of man" with his mouth." - "The Lowest Animal"
"Patriotism is usually the refuge of the scoundrel. He is the man who talks the loudest."
- "Education and Citizenship speech" 5/14/1908
"Patriot: the person who can holler the loudest without knowing what he is hollering about."
- More Maxims of Mark, Johnson, 1927
Which I have always thought was the "stupidest" thing I ever heard.
Yes
Seconds before the trap door opens and you hang by your neck.
I agree.
I wirh you would give yours.Today
The theory of macro evolution is indeed legit then humans are not that evolved
Reread the section in the article about "infinite" resources. Said humans were able to evolve by gleaning more resources and effective use of said resources. Borders exist to protect resources. I submit to you the definition, "tradgedy of commons", which is what happens when one cannot protect one's resources. The landmass to population ratio of Russian bodes well for their long-term future.
Other recommended reading:
Guns, Germs and Steel - ISBN 0-393-03891-2
Communities were created with the specific goal of protecting the weak (old, young and sick). The cooperation of several families benefitted all. Placing one person in charge also freed up time of others and laid the responsibility of maintaining the infrastructure into their lap) and worked our more efficiently.
so that everyone agreed, the vote led to the majority's preference.
As it grew, so did the network in place to keep the day to day operation running smoothly, requiring more people to manage it.
I don't see anything wrong with that.
What do you have in mind exactly asshole? A band of nomads who beg for food and shelter AKA slaves?
Russia has bigger balls
USSA has bigger balls
After 9 years in Russia,
I noticed early on that Russians do not fear...
Russians can be very clever
and not scared of much
(“Pshol!”) ...Is that where our English "Pshaw" comes from?
It's actually said: 'po shol'
Interesting read.
I am absolutely convinced that THE only reason that Putin hasn't gone "gold for BTUs" yet is because the Chinese do not want him to. The Chinese are still trying to move their TP-dollar holdings into hard assets and friends.
The time may come soon, and then we'll see why fans should not be kept near toilets.
The banksters need to repay us.
Concur. As I mentioned earlier today*...
"China has Putin on a short leash (for own selfish reasons and delusions of successfully exploiting the middle-ground)"
* Tue, 01/13/2015 - 17:08 | 5657335 new noben
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-01-13/russian-ruble-re-crashes-crude-carnage-continues-indian-steel-mills-threatened
Saker is reporting that Kiev (Ukraine) and Porky are having a fourth mobilization or draft which will include women. They already called up old men and no one wants to go and fight for these criminals in Kiev.
http://vineyardsaker.blogspot.com/2015/01/maximal-alert-for-muslims-in-f...
And don't forget, when underestimating the Russians... They play chess for fun.
It is a real passion for Russians. The only American to ever beat them was Bobby Fischer. Arguably, the best ever was an American called Paul Morphy from New Orleans who lived around the Civil War. The Russians were not that big in chess then.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Morphy
I have always asked Russians and Ukrainains PhDs who were passionate about chess - who the best was. Most say Morphy.
Here is the current world champ at age 13 when he beat dirtbag Kasparov who is a Putin hater and friend of Soros. Magnus also beat Karpov when he was 13. Magnus Carlsen is about 20 something now and may be the best chess player who ever lived.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjEmquJhSas
What's with the Chess? Why do you guys always go to Chess like it's some kind of magical system that makes a man smarter and better at running a nation. For fuck sakes it's a game, and it's not even a complicated one.
Indeed, it does make one smarter, much smarter. A lot of studies back that up, especially with children that take up the game. Gotta love your comment on Chess not being a "complicated" game. This is true, it is an easy game to learn, but it is very, very difficult to master. There are hundreds, if not thousands of books, written, just on the openings!
Unlike other games, that have dice or cards, there is no 'chance' on a chess board. How hard can that be? Every piece is out there and you know where they are, easy, right? Wrong. It is a game where the player is in charge. I have been playing for over 25 years and am admittedly only at an Expert level. I have been playing one other guy for over fifteen years now and we play every day.
Do you think, playing the same game, against the same guy for fifteen years, that you'd get bored? Never! That is the beauty of the game. It has great depth, far more than you would think. The gent I play against flew F4 Phantoms in Vietnam for both the USAF and The Marines. He knows well, what combat and fierce fighting is all about. And he loves Chess, because this what Chess is: Fierce fighting and Combat. We've never, ever had a boring game, because there's no such thing in Chess.
I go to the pier sometimes, to play the older guys that hang around The chess boards by the beach. I usually get my ass handed to me on a paper plate, they are that good. I've played games against the President of the local College Chess Club, with a small audience watching and believe me, the adrenaline is running high. One wrong move, one wasted move and your opponent gets the "Initiative". Look it up. Unlike other games of chance, which Chess is not, your opponent is looking to feed you a Shit Sandwich and there's nothing like watching it get closer and closer to your face. You will have to eat it, believe me and it feels just as good, forcing it on your opponent.
Do not make judgement on things you know nothing about. Go play Checkers, if Chess is "too hard" for you. If you want to play for real, learn how to master your pieces first.
I used to play a little, dont have the inclination to get serious about it. I know what it takes to play serioussly.Anyway, my ten year old grand nephew keeps challenging me to a game. I have no desire to play against him. What is normally a really nice, sharp, well mannered kid turns into a brutal beast! Everythig changes and he is ready to kill! Scary.
That's a long rant telling me I know nothing of something, from a guy who knows nothing of me... Interesting how the interwebz have that effect on people.
I have played chess, as a child. I grew out of it because I find it boring. Too limited. And you say games of chance like the only games in the world are the old board games and casino games you know of. Evolve damn it, EVOLVE! There are games now that are in fact, more complicated then the average 50 year old persons real life.
That being said, Chess is a fine primer for strategy I would agree on that much. I would simply disagree that it's some magical solution to making a man a better strategist. You have to evolve beyond board games if you're going to compete in the real world. Chess is a simple game, and unless you make it a career it's simply a way to spend a sunny afternoon. Not unlike football.
One lie making the rounds in the united states is that Russian people are dying out due to not having enough births for replacement. This is now officially wrong, and Russia has a birth rate higher than western Europe. Why? Because the government has made tax laws favorable to having children, health care for children is improved and a right to parents, having children is rewarded in every financial way possible. In a decade these new laws, and the rise of nearly full employment in Russia has turned this dirth of babies around. The lie you always hear was based on 1990's Russia that was a nation in ruin. It is not in ruin, and has health care and day care now in place to reward and make easier the life of women who have children. This is fact, research it. No doubt this will make the usual suspects very unhappy. And Russia is taking immigrants in at a very high rate, and has an open door policy to people from Asia with skills and education. Believe me, I have been to many cities in Russia, you see immigrants, many well dressed, driving nice cars and obviously employed well. Get over the idea of teh USSR and collapsed 1990's Russia. Much still is wrong and needs to be improved, but I can tell you, don't assume the place is dying, it is not!
EuroNews TV broadcast has been shut down by the Ukraine because they do not show enough Ukrainain military victories. Oh like how they got chewed up in endless cauldrons last year by the NovoRussia/DPR. Half the time they just turn their equipment over and quit, which is the right response.
There are no victories because these kids and old men being conscripted in the Ukraine do not want to fight for gangsters like Porky. Most of them do not want to fight their neighbors in the East.
http://vineyardsaker.blogspot.com/2015/01/13012015-ukrainian-crisis-news...
Most recent updates on the military situation in the Ukraine.
http://en.voicesevas.ru/news/yugo-vostok/3352-the-war-in-novorossia-onli...
Detailed map
http://voicesevas.ru/maps/8044-karta-boevyh-deystviy-v-novorossii-11-12-...
@Jack Burton
Thanks for pointing this out. Fascinating!
Getting to the point that if the western complicit-media told me the sun would come up tomorrow, I'd worry.
The banksters need to repay us.
What a nonsense!
but we are exceptional isn't ? :D
Good article. An object lesson in application of the law of talion. Laughed my FAO.
Can't we all just get along?
Nope.
Author forgot to say couple words about most significant stronghold of Russian civilization – Russian Woman: soul and spirit, compassion and unconditional love. She makes western civilization irrelevant and unnecessary.
Russian Woman, makes Russian people Russian.
"And to stop the running horse, and into the burning house...."
Like that....
I wonder how Russia will roll over all the private debt ($280 billion) in the next few months. They never should have borrowed western money. Now they will be like Argentinia. They have no access to western banks. If China lends them the money, Dollar, Inc (not the USA) will be pretty mad. I doubt China will come to their aid and irritate "The Boys".
Strange, they do nothing about ISIS, but put the extreme hurt on Russia.
Well, I think China has more to gain than lose siding with Russia. Cheap resources is one. China has all the manufacturing they need, and really not much anyone can do to replace them. As well, recently, Chinese creditors gave Russia better rating than USA, which makes sense since Russia doesn't owe the banks trillions.
That said, the only ones to get hurt in the default would be the west, since it is financial loans for hard assets in the ground. Since no one can simply stroll in and take it, they will just cough up the loss of $600B. Something that is being considered in Russia.
The Chinese won't 'choose sides' unless one side or the other demands it. And with that, Russia doesn't buy enough Chinese goods to do a manufacturing nation much good. Natural resources abound in the world, Africa is flush with everything Russia has to offer as well. Does it cost more to extract? Then it'll cost more to buy the finished product.
In the long game Russia has a poor record of 'winning'. They may have never been taken over but they've been occupied enough times. Worse still, they've never run a very good economy, have defaulted far too often, and simply don't have the political prowess to make China walk away from the west. Just. Doesn't. Add. Up.
I totally agree. China understands that a new world order is coming. By denying the dollar hegemony and allying itself with a resource rich Russia, China will form an axis of power that will counterbalance the US and the deteriorating western economies. They know that if Russia goes, they are next. The Chinese are always playing the long game and in that time frame, it is only logical to break from Western control.
China understands clearly that after Russia, 'The Boys' will be after them. This is survival for both China and Russia. As for the loans from Western banks, those same banks are in fear of a Russian default which would plunge them into financial chaos - the sword cuts both ways, a fact that the US and EU continually overlook in their Master-of-the-Universe plans.
Temporarily suspend payment or outright default will address the debt. China and Russia already signed an agreement for currency swaps and they are close to implementing their SWIFT system, so they are not relying on the USD.