>> #China laid out the #Chinese checkers and chess pieces on the Board before #Biden, #Blinken, and #Bibi became aware of them.

Meeting between #Putin and #Pezeshkian offers #Russia an opportunity to burnish its self-image as a superpower “…as the bigger partner, and #Iran as a regional partner.”

So this makes the pecking order clear in the #CRINK axis:

China (#SeniorPartner) > Russia (#JuniorPartner) > Iran (drone supplier) > #NorthKorea (cannon fodder supplier)

https://www.byteseu.com/658601/

@w7voa

>> #China is quickly catching up to Russia as an effective proliferator of disinformation, says the former chief and founder of the #NSA’s Office of Operational Psychology.

#Russia and #China are working together https://mastodon.social/@rameshgupta/112450609431774444

Of course, China is the #SeniorPartner (and has been for long). So it is not surprising that China's pace of spreading #disinformation is accelerating compared to that of its #JuniorPartner

@tobie1 @GreenFire @lawyerjsd

>> shape of international order is being contested by Russia, China and Iran

Mainly #China and #Russia.

China is the #SeniorPartner because it has money in hand. Russia is the #JuniorPartner because it has #Trump in its back pocket, but not a sure thing.

The way to fix China is to break this partnership. Nobody partners with a pauper. Get rid of Trump. Marginalize Russia.

#ForeignPolicy was in sharp focus during #ColdWar. Russia has now destroyed our media.

#China tells #NATO not to create chaos in #Asia and rejects label of ‘enabler’ of #Russia’s #Ukraine war.

OK, not enabler.

How about #SeniorPartner in #JuniorPartner's War in Ukraine?

NATO said China has become a enabler of the war through its “no-limits PARTNERSHIPS” with Russia and its large-scale support for Russia’s defense industrial base.

China has refused to condemn Russia. Its trade with Russia has grown since the invasion… offsetting impact of sanctions.

https://apnews.com/article/china-nato-ukraine-war-689834988a7e0543504010649a63e319

#Project2025RallyingCry

Nothing I’ve read in the #Project2025 Playbook so far (barely 10%) has alarmed me more than the section on the #NationalSecurityCouncil #NSC.

No one should forget what #Trump did with #Putin in #Helsinki in 2018, meeting in private, one-on-one, away from the scrutiny of anybody.

#TrumpIntendsTo delete all present NSC staff not aligned with his agenda on Day1 and replace them with partisan hacks.

#TrumpIntendsTo give #JuniorPartner HUGE leverage over #China. No Joke

#JuniorPartner #Putin meets #SeniorPartner #Xi in #Kazakhstan after meeting earlier in #China.

They meet for Shanghai Cooperation Organization, established by China and #Russia to discuss security concerns in Central Asia.

Other members are #Iran, #India, #Pakistan, Kazakhstan, #Kyrgyzstan, #Tajikistan, & #Uzbekistan. Observers include #Turkey, #SaudiArabia and #Egypt.

#Modi is not attending amid speculation he wants to balance relationship with Russia & the West.

https://apnews.com/article/russia-china-iran-shanghai-cooperation-organization-sco-7d0dcd21ad34b09cc149e30567198b06

NONE of the #UN #SecurityCouncil members vetoed the #US-sponsored #ceaseFire Resolution for the #Israel-#Hamas War in #Gaza.

#China voted in favor, and its #JuniorPartner #Russia abstained.

#FaitAccompli

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/us-calls-un-security-council-vote-cease-fire-proposal-gaza-rcna156373

@DarkMatterZine @kravietz @Nochem

>> So US supports Israel while Israel commits genocide but supports other countries that Russia wants to take over while Putin tries to re-establish the USSR. And China laughs quietly

It's not complicated.

#US supports its allies, just like #Russia and #China do.

#Israel is an ally of US, as is #Ukraine.

Russia is an ally (#JuniorPartner) of China

#Iran is an ally of both Russia and China

See how I simplified this without introducing genocide?

>> #Russia would "create a certain '#sanitaryZone' in the territories [currently] under the #Kyiv regime [sic]" to defend territory Russia has ALREADY occupied

>> So #Ukraine will need longer-range weapons, and then Putin will blame the West for supplying them.

No doubt blessed by the #SeniorPartner, at their #PutinXiMeeting, the #juniorPartner reiterated his plan to create “a buffer zone in Ukraine’s #Kharkiv” that he first enunciated 2 months ago.

https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-news-5-17-2024-ce31e2e73cbb8dd59aa73baa6cd87d68

@tsturm

I agree with you that #China is looking northward. That is why I linked my post about China claiming to be an arctic power despite have no arctic presence.

However, I believe #Russia and China are partners-in-crime, with Russia being the #juniorPartner. They both need each other for their agenda. I don’t think China is looking to distract Russia and grab some territory while it is trapped in #Ukraine

@kravietz

#JuniorPartner #Putin to visit #SeniorPartner #Xi, who has backed #Russia’s #FullScaleInvasion of #Ukraine.

Compare with #US, which has barred #Israel’s FULL-SCALE invasion of #Rafah.

Putin says Russia is prepared to negotiate over Ukraine, just like #Hamas says it’s prepared to negotiate with Israel.

#China claims to be neutral but backs Russian position that it was provoked into attacking Ukraine by the West, despite Putin’s public avowals of his #RevanchistDreams

https://apnews.com/article/china-russia-putin-beijing-xi-3212ef85d8318cf853f956173f3a682a