Why Russia's President Is 'Putin the Great' in China

[Hamartia Antidote]

That's a very good point.

With the advances in energy technologies, the larger countries will become less hostage to energy blackmail. The politics of energy sanctions may become obsolete and it would be interesting to see what takes their place in international arm-twisting.

Well this was the goal since the 1973 oil crisis. Diversify your energy imports instead of lumping them all into one basket. Unfortunately Europe got addicted to Russian oil/gas and now it is about 33% of their imports.

Russia in the European energy sector - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
2007 Natural gas data:

Estonia 100%
Finland 100%
Latvia 100%
Lithuania 100%
Slovakia 98%
Bulgaria 92%
Czech Republic 77.6%
Greece 76%
Hungary 60%
Slovenia 52%
Austria 49%
Poland 48.15%
Croatia 37%
Germany 36%
Italy 27%
Romania 27%
France 14%
Belgium 5%

The shares of Russian natural gas in the domestic gas consumption in non-EU countries in Europe were in 2006:[5]

Republic of Macedonia 100%
Belarus 98%
Serbia, Montenegro 87%
Ukraine 66%
Turkey 64%
Switzerland 12%

 

[Developereo]

Currency too.

There is a huge initative right now, especially in China and Russia to start internationalizing the Yuan and the Ruble, to have a payment system that is not dominated by the US (Russia wants to use China UnionPay instead of Visa/Mastercard), and to have an alternative to organizations like SWIFT.

It will take around 10-20 years before we reach a "decent" level of comprehensive national power in world politics (based on hard power like economy/military), which would be more commensurate with our position as the number one most populated country in the world. And even then, that will only be the beginning.

The Chinese Mainland certainly has the potential to reach the per capita levels of HK, Singapore, Macau, etc. Just meet some of their students to see, they are amongst the most dedicated and hardworking people I have met.

There are so many things we do today, including the financial system, which are a legacy of decades' old technological limitations, when things were done semi-manually.

Technology today is so advanced that many sectors of interactions are due for major evolutionary overhaul.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

One of the big problems China has right now is that we import a lot of natural resources, that's where Russia has a big advantage since they are not vulnerable in this area.
.

This is where you are opening yourself to being screwed. I think you are importing 61% of your oil. You are importing more and more oil each year. If this keeps up you will be nailed someday with the same 1973 oil crisis problem.

 

[Developereo]

This is where you are opening yourself to being screwed. I think you are importing 61% of your oil. You are importing more and more oil each year. If this keeps up you will be nailed someday with the same 1973 oil crisis problem.

You have to keep in mind that sometimes countries rely on imports for subtle reasons..

One of the semi-conspiratorial reasons is to use up other countries' resources, and to keep your intact as insurance for a rainy -- or hostile -- day. The local resources may be a tad uneconomical, but certainly valuable as a national security insurance.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

You have to keep in mind that sometimes countries rely on imports for subtle reasons..

One of the semi-conspiratorial reasons is to use up other countries' resources, and to keep your intact as insurance for a rainy -- or hostile -- day. The local resources may be a tad uneconomical, but certainly valuable as a national security insurance.

As long as you can turn on your local oil spigot to full power on short notice..otherwise it's a bad strategy (as the US found out).

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

You have to keep in mind that sometimes countries rely on imports for subtle reasons..

One of the semi-conspiratorial reasons is to use up other countries' resources, and to keep your intact as insurance for a rainy -- or hostile -- day. The local resources may be a tad uneconomical, but certainly valuable as a national security insurance.

Exactly right.

Not too long ago, we were actually oil exporters. We have substantial oil reserves of our own, not to mention Shale gas and oil, of which we have the largest reserves in the world.

But obviously we want to "keep" some of these regular oil reserves back, for a rainy day. That's in addition to our strategic oil reserves.

Though we still do produce a great deal of oil domestically, in fact we are one of the largest oil producers in the world, we produce more oil every year than Iraq or Venezuela.

List of countries by oil production - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[C130]

Makes sense why the Chinese would admire Putin and Russia. They want to annex the South China Sea and Taiwan and bully it's neighbors with force.

Now the Russia economy is growing at 0.5 percent this year and expected to grow just 0.3 percent next year. It's a bear with no claws
very admirable.

 

[Meengla]

Putin - the personification of the winds of change, hope for the non-Orwellian future of humanity. Putin - a leader of the planetary revolt against Western tyranny.
The world got a chance to unite traditions and cultures, rather than postmodern's total assimilation.

The world is better off as a multipolar order. But I don't think Putin or Russia can be the head of the other pole. A better order would be China-India led order: They have the numbers, the lands, and deep history. Sad to say, Russia is a dying cause. Her demographics being one big factor.
Also, what you are dismissing as 'postmodern total assimilation' needs to be modified so that the imperial aspects of the West need to be tempered. Promoting commercial interests for corporations in the garb of 'freedom' and 'democracy' is the Western corporations' weapon of choice but West also represents much of humanity's achievements not only in science but also in rule of the law, the inclusive systems, and indeed 'freedoms' despite all glaring shortcomings.
We need to think beyond the accidents of births which make us mere nationalists of uncritical love. We need to think as human beings. At least we need to strive to think as human beings above all...

 

[vostok]

The world is better off as a multipolar order. But I don't think Putin or Russia can be the head of the other pole. A better order would be China-India led order: They have the numbers, the lands, and deep history. Sad to say, Russia is a dying cause. Her demographics being one big factor.
Also, what you are dismissing as 'postmodern total assimilation' needs to be modified so that the imperial aspects of the West need to be tempered. Promoting commercial interests for corporations in the garb of 'freedom' and 'democracy' is the Western corporations' weapon of choice but West also represents much of humanity's achievements not only in science but also in rule of the law, the inclusive systems, and indeed 'freedoms' despite all glaring shortcomings.
We need to think beyond the accidents of births which make us mere nationalists of uncritical love. We need to think as human beings. At least we need to strive to think as human beings above all...

West generates a total emptiness and alienation between people. West kills traditional culture, and in return gives dummy, a set of myths. West became a contradiction to everything that made it great.
This West is dying. Russia has better demographics than Europe or the United States (especially if we consider the white population). Will pass a little time, and Russia remain the only great Christian nation. Of course, Russia will be one of the poles of the new world.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

West generates a total emptiness and alienation between people. West kills traditional culture, and in return gives dummy, a set of myths..

I''m sure there are far more smiling faces in the West than in Russia. You can believe what you want but far more Russians move and stay over here than the other way around

 

[vostok]

I''m sure there are far more smiling faces in the West than in Russia. You can believe what you want but far more Russians move and stay over here than the other way around

Now almost no one goes to the West from Russia. But from Europe to Russia moved thousands of people (you might be surprised). White people, who do not like what is happening in their countries. And every year there will be more and more.

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

Makes sense why the Chinese would admire Putin and Russia. They want to annex the South China Sea and Taiwan and bully it's neighbors with force.

Now the Russia economy is growing at 0.5 percent this year and expected to grow just 0.3 percent next year. It's a bear with no claws
very admirable.

The Bear has nuclear claws.

Why do you think America refused to uphold their promise to protect Ukraine's sovereignty? Because that would mean starting a fight with Russia.

It is foolish for any country to underestimate Russia, apparently they realized that, otherwise they would have sent troops to Crimea.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

Why do you think America refused to uphold their promise to protect Ukraine's sovereignty?
.

Are you talking about this?
Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Meengla]

West generates a total emptiness and alienation between people. West kills traditional culture, and in return gives dummy, a set of myths. .

And yet, except Bhutan, the rest of the world is trying to emulate the Western civilization in varying degrees.
Anyway, I hope you are right about the potential role Russia can play as a leader in a multipolar world. But I have my doubts about the long term prospects of Russia. I think the demographics, the alcohol problems etc make Russia far weaker than the Western states. Having more 'white' people in Russia doesn't translate into a strong and upwardly-mobile civilization. And neither does being a leader of the Christian world. The high point for Russia came perhaps some time in the 1960's as the nucleus of the Soviet Union. It has been downhill and will continue to be downhill.

 

[vostok]

And yet, except Bhutan, the rest of the world is trying to emulate the Western civilization in varying degrees.
Anyway, I hope you are right about the potential role Russia can play as a leader in a multipolar world. But I have my doubts about the long term prospects of Russia. I think the demographics, the alcohol problems etc make Russia far weaker than the Western states. Having more 'white' people in Russia doesn't translate into a strong and upwardly-mobile civilization. And neither does being a leader of the Christian world. The high point for Russia came perhaps some time in the 1960's as the nucleus of the Soviet Union. It has been downhill and will continue to be downhill.

Many people have outdated information about Russia.

4 Things You Should Know About Russian Demography That Vanity Fair Won't Tell You - Forbes


If Putin era will last another 10 years, hundreds of thousands of Europeans will move to Russia, who do not want to part with traditional values - family, Christianity, morality.
I did not say that Russia will be the leader of a multipolar world. I said that Russia will be one of the poles of the world.