Good!
If Putin trusts the Chinese he will wake up one morning with all of Russia east of the Urals gone
Obama tied himself in knots to explain why it was a good thing to establish relations with enemies (Al-Qaeda and the Taliban) but is ready to turn his back on Russia?
Stupid move that will lead to bigger problems down the road.
Basic concepts in negotiations in the West have a Christian underpinning and two millennia of moderating Christian influence--whether or not the actors were Christian, whether or not their actions were Christian. The influence was still present. It shaped Europe.
The East never had that. It was "I'm dominant--you're submissive, the vassal."
Europe is a continent where all the nations are of similar size and roughly similar strength. They HAD to learn to get along. It took 2,000 years, but it's largely been done.
Asia--dominated by China--has never HAD to learn that. China has no neighbor of equivalent size. It hasn't had to learn anything about getting along at a negotiating table and showing genuine respect for a bordering neighbor...and they RESENT having to treat Russia and the USA as equals, let me assure you.
So...when Russia burns its bridges to the West, as they have done, do not think they'll turn East and get a "sweet deal" for their oil. They won't. China is watching, and smiling. China will see Russia's current situation, and realize Russia can no longer sell to TWO buyers, East and West, and now only has one buyer: East.
And China's negotiators will hold to even lower prices they are willing to pay Russia for their natural gas, because Russia will have no other buyers to sell to....
Sauron
Wow...I said this was what is going to happen. As the West levies their petty sanctions against Russia...Russia says they don’t “need” us and those pipelines in the Ukraine? They get shut-off! Now that is what I call one harsh sanction against Obama’s hubris.
Some here want to make fun of Putin etc., but it is naïve to underestimate this man. None of what he is doing has not be carefully and strategically planned. The global shift is on and America & Europe is far behind in the battle plans.
So Russia turns to the East...what then of our China imports and debt? What then if China sanctions America and cuts off food imports? Forget the “electronics” end of things, do you realize how much food we actually import? How much we export to China for processing because we CAN’T process it here due to any number of regulatory factors?
While these events are worrisome and I believe the 0bama regime will epically fail at this chess game, one must admire the game being played, by master player Putin.
So the question becomes how does Putin and the Muslims fit together?
“The underlying message from the head of Russia’s biggest oil company, Rosneft, was clear: If Europe and the United States isolate Russia, Moscow will look East for new business, energy deals, military contracts and political alliances.”
Notwithstanding the current news , this started years ago.
In 2012, the company Transneft completed a $23 billion pipeline to transport oil to China and recently approved plans to expand it. Gazprom hopes to sign a long-term deal with China in May that will require it to build a gas pipeline costing some $50 billion.
Rosneft is developping its LNG projects focusing on Japan and China.
Moscow will also sign contracts on the sale of the Sukhoi Su-35 fighter to China.
http://rt.com/op-edge/russia-switches-to-brics-sanctions-357/
China may turn to Russia for cheap labor