Russian Parliament Approves New Law Restricting the Internet

[Igel]

35. They are in some sense allies.

It may not be a very stable alliance. The ONF's big point is that the Eurasian "bit" is mostly economic and not ideological. Along with cultural, in the sense that Russia donminates and Russian is the "regional language." Overall, it's economic.

Both are fairly clear: Their morality is power and money. They don't bother with pretenses except when they think it will be perceived as an argument by their opponent.

The only reason to argue about self-determination in Crimea is because it convinces people in the West and makes for a split population. Putin doesn't care about self-determination, except possibly the only kind that matters--Russians rejoining the Russian collective.

China is precisely the same. You hear about highfalutin' principles when discussing the West's hypocrisy, not what China should do. You hear about democratic principles when the Chinese are arguing that the West should sod off--and they're discounted when the West uses them against China.

China's the weak link here. Russia, in wanting to be Eurasian (not something that was huge; it mirrors Obama's Asia pivot, which is to accomplish about the same goal), requires that China play ball. That China prefer to trade with it and with the West through Russia. If China opted to trade primarily through the US or South America Russia would be on the periphery of both "worlds." Russia wants to use antagonism by and paranoia against the West to unify an economic alliance, which necessarily means some sort of military alliance.