(Own report) - While the German frigate Bayern is preparing to set off for its Asia-Pacific tour, high-ranking US military officials are intensifying their discussion on the type and time of a possible large-scale war against China. Retired Admiral James Stavridis, former NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe and author of a newly published novel on such a war, assumed until recently that the battle could begin in the coming decade and could possibly be triggered by a conflict over Taiwan or islands in the South and East China seas. However, the military balance of power between the USA and China is rapidly shifting in favor of the People's Republic, which in some areas has already caught up, for example in the number of warships or in cyber warfare, Stavridis notes. He warns that "the battle" between Washington and Beijing "may come much sooner. US allies play a central role and the USA is deliberately involving them in "more aggressive" operations, for example, in the South China Sea. Germany is among the allies he mentioned.
For years, I've read the comparison of Putin's foreign policy to that of the US as the US plays checkers while Putin plays chess. They are the played on the same board, but one is obviously harder (chess). Putin really does not have a strong population to enforce anything against China in the Far East (Siberia IIRC) in the event of a land war; that is why he is doing the free 20 hectares of land program, to get Russian citizens to move there and populate the region so it isn't overrun by China.
Russia's military defenses are equipped for strategic warfare. Such as ICBMs. The withdrawal from the open skies treaty by US and Russia, as well as from the Start treaty (I believe it's called) reduces restrictions on nuclear armaments.
Russia's strategic security against land invasion has always been in its size and climate, both of which make it effectively unconquerable, being almost continental in size. Yes, the territory could be nuked (though not without retaliation - Russia is believed to still maintain the "Dead hand" auto-retaliation system), but it is too vast to actually conquer in a uniform fashion. (Hence, why different regions of Russia have different cultures, for example Chechnya and Moscow).
Putin would more than likely be officially neutral for as long as he can, conducting normal trade with China for humanitarian reasons such as food.
China and Russia have both liberalised to an extent following the collapse of the USSR - China becoming a manufacturing powerhouse. A strategic alliance between Russia and China would be formidable, as Russia has a massive grain production and China has a significant need for food. The close ties of the BRI would make it easy for Putin to make a deal with China to supply their food (China imports a lot of food from the US currently, as their rapid development has resulted in a loss of arable land).
What are the chances of Putin playing along with something like that?
For years, I've read the comparison of Putin's foreign policy to that of the US as the US plays checkers while Putin plays chess. They are the played on the same board, but one is obviously harder (chess). Putin really does not have a strong population to enforce anything against China in the Far East (Siberia IIRC) in the event of a land war; that is why he is doing the free 20 hectares of land program, to get Russian citizens to move there and populate the region so it isn't overrun by China.
Russia's military defenses are equipped for strategic warfare. Such as ICBMs. The withdrawal from the open skies treaty by US and Russia, as well as from the Start treaty (I believe it's called) reduces restrictions on nuclear armaments.
Russia's strategic security against land invasion has always been in its size and climate, both of which make it effectively unconquerable, being almost continental in size. Yes, the territory could be nuked (though not without retaliation - Russia is believed to still maintain the "Dead hand" auto-retaliation system), but it is too vast to actually conquer in a uniform fashion. (Hence, why different regions of Russia have different cultures, for example Chechnya and Moscow).
Putin would more than likely be officially neutral for as long as he can, conducting normal trade with China for humanitarian reasons such as food.
China and Russia have both liberalised to an extent following the collapse of the USSR - China becoming a manufacturing powerhouse. A strategic alliance between Russia and China would be formidable, as Russia has a massive grain production and China has a significant need for food. The close ties of the BRI would make it easy for Putin to make a deal with China to supply their food (China imports a lot of food from the US currently, as their rapid development has resulted in a loss of arable land).