China is very divided. On one hand, they are morally opposed (morally isn't the right word; philosophically? Politically? It goes against everything they believe in and work by, essentially) to both Russian interventionism, self-determination, and the breaking of established borders. Between the Uighurs, Taiwan, and the rest, they don't like letting people who don't want to be part of China have the decision to decide; supporting Russia means supporting that. Foreign interventions as well are against Chinese tradition; for all the shit about China ruling the world, they barely assert their presence in their own backyard, given how large they are. Supporting Russia is abhorrent to them.
On the other hand, Russia. Russia is China's big ole partner. They do business together, they both used to be part of the eastern bloc, they stand against the west together. Not supporting Russia is betrayal.
On a third hand, China has invested
a lot in Ukraine. That's some real monies right there man. Money means a lot to the modern day merchant state.
China is trying very, very hard to pretend it doesn't exist.
One thing I never understood is that in large areas of the internet, Putin is considered awesome.
To me, he's always (not recently, ALWAYS) seemed like a dick.
Well unlike a certain country I can think of, Russia has, largely, had a free internet (although there has been some subtle things going on. Nothing overt until 2012, and the serious enforcement appears to be coming out now). There is no "Great firewall of Russia" type deal going on, and no censor army the size of Detroit. Thus, Russians are more or less part of the Confederacy of the Greater Interwebz like most nations. Maybe an autonomous region (lol, autonomous in a confederacy. What would that even mean?)
So it seems Russia is moving to secure regions near Crimea. That makes sense; there has been a lot of talk about how Russia would handle Crimea if Ukraine pulled the plug on them.
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Topic: UR's Post-USSR politics megathread (Read 304924 times)