Free Republic

Xi Jinping has a clearly-articulated view of the strategic rise of China. By 2049, Xi says, China will have become the dominant world power, once more enjoying the superior military, economic, political and cultural status that was usurped by Western imperialism in the 19th century. Since Xi’s rise to power, all his actions, at home and overseas, have focused on achieving this objective. His vision does not include a relationship with Russia as a peer, and never will. Ultimately, Xi Jinping needs only energy from Putin. Even though Beijing can bargain the price down, they will be buying such vast...

Ukraine says its future may depend on the brutal battles raging around Bakhmut, but there are growing splits between officials in Kyiv and some Western military analysts over the best approach to what could be a decisive period in the conflict. For months, Ukraine’s defense of the eastern city has held up and worn down Russian forces while serving as a potent symbol of the country’s defiance. Now, as Moscow’s assault intensifies, a number of observers have questioned whether Kyiv's decision to reinforce the area rather than retreat is being driven more by the political desire to avoid a high-profile...

What’s known is that $250 billion in capital has left, equivalent to 14 percent of its GDP. One expert guesstimates that Russia’s economy has shrunk from the size of Italy’s to Chile’s in the past year — you wouldn’t know this based on bogus figures fed to the media by Moscow. Economist Janis Kluge of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) calculates that Western sanctions alone have also “basically shrunk Russia’s economy by 10 percent”, bigger than what happened in the 2009 financial crisis. What is also known is that immediately after the invasion of Ukraine, an...

The analogy with the present crisis in Ukraine and the story of the Chinese Tangut kingdom