[maxsanic]

Ever since the day the Russia-Ukraine war started, I have maintained that ultimately regardless of the battle outcome Ukraine, Russia and EU are going to be the main losers. US would yield some tactical short term gains, but otherwise lose on a strategic and longer term basis as well.
 
This latest episode of various Central Asian countries getting bolder in rejecting Russia is more evidence of that. The way the Kazakh President made the speech, especially his sudden bringing of Taiwan into the picture, is clear evidence he’s trying to steer Kazakhstan closer to China to shave off Russian influence. We’ve seen the same recently in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan as well.

It would be interesting to see how China can maintain a cordial relationship with Russia in the face of its eventual encroachment (intentionally or unintentionally) into core Russian interests. Russia’s relationship with China is actually the polar opposite of EU. EU political and business elites want to deepen engagement with China, but continue to maintain a front by pumping anti-China rhetoric and getting the European parliament misfits to pass bombastic bills that have no executive value in order to conceal their actual dealings from the public.

Russian elites on the other hand are probably very uneasy over the country’s increased dependence on China but have no feasible way to reverse the trend and thus need to pump out pro-China rhetoric in order to instill confidence amongst domestic audience and show the world they still have a powerful friend internationally.

International politics can be really topsy turvy when you think about it.