[cicero's_son]

[Russia] will be extensively "courted" by the US and China."

Well the courtship they're likely to get from the Chinese may be a bit rough, but fundamentally I agree with you.

Short term, Europe and the US can offer Russia pipelines and billions of dollars to develop natural gas and oil mining facilities. We can also, for now, guarantee her security.

Longer term, China can offer Russia her survival.

[Icthus]

Didn't China and Russia tentatively bury the hatchet?

[Torie]

I don't quite follow the last sentence. As it is, China poses a huge demographic threat to the Russian East. I have read articles that the Chinese are moving across the Amur River, and Russia is so dysfunctional that it is below the radar screen. And of course the Chinese are eating the Russians alive economically in the areas to which they move, for a variety of reasons I won't get into. I suspect this someday will become a flashpoint. And I doubt Russia will win. Buchanan is wrong about almost everything except one thing: Russia is a dying country in rigor mortis. And the piper will be paid in the East potentially. With both having nukes, that will be another issue for our children to deal with.