Russia+China+Islam versus US.
Russia is playing the long game. Please remember that they're communist. China is communist...our POTUS is a communist.
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Dick Vomer your view of things is bizarre. Russia is not communist and China is communist in name only these days but that is besides the point.
Both Russia and China have Sunni Muslim ethnic communities that have historically risen up in revolt every couple of generations. They are not and have never been allies of Sunni Islamism. During the Cold War the USSR and Red China did help secular/atheists from Muslim countries. The Afghan War in the 80s started when the USSR helped socialist (and anti Islamist) Afghan commie atheists take power which infuriated the religious peasant Afghans.
The Chinese do help Pakistan (just like the USA does) because the Chinese have fears of India (they fought a border war). The hope is also that Pakistan can help against the Sunni Stan's that border China. Russia, post Cold War helps Shia Muslims like Iran and Syria because Russia's problem is with Sunni Russian populations that are influenced by the Saudis. Helping Shia fight Saudi backed Sunnis is good counter action policy and also the Iranians being Shia would not be able to double cross Russia with her own Muslims (small chance Russian arms sold to Shia would end up in Sunni hands).
My view of the governments in Russian and China is realistic and I believe far from "bizarre". Central control of the proletariat/workers and central planning with the well connected elites being the main beneficiaries due to their "greater needs" combined with their "greater ability" is present in both empires.
The Chinese tell them what to do, where to live, how many children to have and have the most basic of all control....who lives and who dies. As for the Russians.
Please read a biography of Putin. It's a great read. He is and was a true believer in the dream of a Russian/Communist world wide empire. When he is cornered or humiliated PERSONALLY, he lashes out.
If you think that either entity is remotely controlled by the "voice" or "concern" of the "people", I am afraid that you may be misinformed.
America and it's citizens need to realize that we are in an ideological total war with communism. It adapted when Ronald Reagan broke the bank, but if you think about it, no leader was imprisoned, no penalty was paid and nobody died as a result of the "change" in governments in the "Soviet Union". They just blended into the reboot of the new wave and carried on. Look at the green movement and you'll see who? Some guy with a blotch mark on his forehead. Go around and look at the old party apparatchiks to see who ended up hung on a lamp-post or shot behind their dacha. None... then all they did was blend in and resume the old game. When the Soviet Union dissolved the "war" wasn't over. It merely morphed into another form.
As for China, they think in terms of generational conflicts. Three or four generations down the road. Like I said before, when the historians look back at this period of time in 1000 or 1500 years and time is compressed, the 20th century is going to be a long continuation of the First World War. Without that war we would have no mid-east "crisis" or Israel. We would not have communism take hold in Russia. The maps of Europe, Near East would look so much different.
That's what I meant by "the long game" and by Russia and China being "communists". They are and we are being led by communists as well in the executive branches of our present administration. Communism isn't bound by borders, my friend. You can't just over run it and occupy it. It is a virus that changes but is basically driven to control everyone except those at the apex of the food chain.
I think being well informed and stepping back from the media propaganda machines help give some perspective.