patrick.net
An Antidote to Corporate Media
1,191,865 comments by 13,863 users - Ceffer, Patrick, stereotomy, The_Deplorable online now
Who is a better ally for the US? Russia or China?
invite response
2017 Apr 6, 2:05am 1,922 views 10 comments
Comments 1 - 10 of 10 Search these comments
Shaman
2017 Apr 6, 5:55am
When most all power was concentrated at the level of government, this "choosing one ally" proposition may have been valid. Now, technology makes it possible for even upstart countries, individuals, and religious movements to have an outsized negative effect on world security. If we can't work with the other superpowers to stamp out these forces of disaster and chaos, we will lose the advantages we have.
We don't need to choose either China or Russia. We need to choose them both! And Trump is the man to do it. We have to hang together or we will all hang separately. Realistically none of the superpowers can ever afford to make war on each other. The stakes are catastrophic and mutual annihilation with the entire world at stake. Diplomatic solutions are the only solutions here. And rather than sniping at our fellows, we should attempt to work with them to ensure world peace.
Or was that "world peace" slogan just a talking point for the Democrats the last 60 years?
FNWGMOBDVZXDNW
2017 Apr 6, 6:49am
We are allies with countries that have shared values. We don't have to try to choose China or Russia to fend off the other. We should try to have good working relations with both, and be mindful that they don't form an alliance against us. They are more natural allies, given their proximity, Russia's abundance of oil and gas and China's lack of oil and gas, etc. Their relationship has been improving.
We have cultivated a good relationship with China based on mutual interest in trade. They provide cheap manufacturing, and financing. Trump wants to change the balance of trade, which is fine, but he risks pushing China away and more towards Russia. His competence for such a task is up in the air. One interesting things is that China is not the cheapest place to manufacture anymore, so offshoring is moving away from China.
Shaman
2017 Apr 6, 7:37am
We share more values with Russia than with China. If we managed to befriend that country enough to put down deep roots of trade, we can definitely do the same with Russia. Thermonuclear war should be off the table, and will be as long as we keep insane neocons and Leftists out of the decision process.
I group John McCAin with Nancy Pelosi. They're equal parts senile and batshit crazy.
China has a bigger economy than the US. California has a bigger economy than Russia. Which should we choose?
Why do we have to choose anyway. Who made this rule?
CHINER!
Because Republicans buy COMMUNIST CRAP!
Go ahead ,SUCK THOSE CHINESE DICKS!
Bet you swallow.
Forty-five years ago last February, U.S. President Richard Nixon returned from a visit to China that shocked the world and unsettled leaders in Moscow, who were awaiting a visit from Nixon a few months later. Soviet leaders wondered if they were finally witnessing the birth of a U.S.-China alliance that they had feared ever since the breakdown of the Sino-Soviet alliance in the early 1960s.
While President Trump repeatedly asks “Wouldn’t it be nice if we actually got along with Russia?,†U.S. policymakers are faced with the same choice between Russia and China, though this time the stakes might be even higher.
The history of persistent tensions between Russia and China suggests two choices: Accommodate and reconcile with Russia to balance against the greater power – China. Or, align with China to defend a rules-based international order from its most powerful antagonist – Russia.
It should be clear by now that we can no longer oppose Russia and China at the same time. Though that route might seem tempting and natural, given the historical aspirations of U.S. foreign policy to protect territorial sovereignty, promote human rights and provide a framework for free trade, we are no longer equal to the task.
So where do we go from here? If we cannot oppose both Russia and China, then we need to compromise with at least one of them.
Make friends with Russia?
Arguing for a Russian alignment is the notion that China already does more damage to American interests around the globe than Russia does.
Or choose China instead?
Alternatively, we could align with China against Russia.
This approach makes sense if you believe Putin began as a pragmatist, but that was only a temporary tack, given his KGB background and nationalist authoritarian inclinations. But now that he has seen how weak his opponents are and how much havoc he can wreak, he has set his sights higher.
Is the choice even ours?
With Russia against China? With China against Russia?
There is no question such a choice is unpalatable. Not only would either alternative involve morally difficult concessions, but having to make the choice at all implies that the United States is no longer capable of defending the world order it has long sponsored. This is a difficult reality to accept.
More: http://theconversation.com/who-is-a-better-ally-for-the-us-russia-or-china-75673
#Russia #China #GeoPolitics #Politics