.
ER Editor: Putin visited Xi this week, his first visit after his inauguration for a 5th term in office. We’re offering 3 takes on this, including a link to the 8,000 word joint statement Xi and Putin put out, plus some tweets on the hugely symbolic hug proffered by Xi.
🇷🇺🇨🇳 The last thing the West probably wants to see is Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin hugging each other. pic.twitter.com/WbqWT7gdMC
— DD Geopolitics (@DD_Geopolitics) May 16, 2024
If you know Chinese culture, hugging is not common, especially by the heads of state. This farewell between Xi and Putin after his visit to China is extraordinary. pic.twitter.com/oeuW0Z68Q1
— Olga Bazova (@OlgaBazova) May 17, 2024
NATO IS FUCKED ‼️
🇨🇳 🇷🇺 Hugs between Putin and Xi Jinping 😎🔥
Starting tomorrow 3 days of mourning for globalists.
If you know Chinese culture, hugs are not common, especially by heads of state. This farewell between Xi and Putin after their visit to China is extraordinary pic.twitter.com/0NqJIVAnP6
— Ignorance, the root and stem of all evil (@ivan_8848) May 17, 2024
“One small hug for man, one giant allegiance for geopolitics.”
President Xi Jinping hugs Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Russia-China entering a new orbit of multipolar world. pic.twitter.com/ULQ9fMIXr7
— S.L. Kanthan (@Kanthan2030) May 17, 2024
******
Kicking off with Simplicius —
The DragonBear-Hug Signals Unprecedented Expansion of Ties
SIMPLICIUS
Not only is it the symbolic first foreign trip of his latest presidential term, but digging under the hood, we discover there is even much more import to the trip to distinguish it from the merely routine.
Firstly, Putin brought virtually every major figure of the Russian government with him, most notably new Defense Minister Belousov—though Shoigu remained significantly at his side:
…
This has led many pundits to analyze the trip on a deeper level than usual.
This thread by a Ukrainian reserve officer lists the following entourage:
Furthermore, key representatives of businesses and oligarchs are part of the expanded delegation.
– Oleg Deripaska, oligarch and founder of RUSAL
– Igor Sechin, oligarch, CEO of Rosneft
– Herman Gref, Chairman of Sberbank’s Executive Board
– Andrey Kostin, President-Chairman of VTB Bank
– Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund
– Leonid Mikhelson, Chairman of NOVATEK
– Igor Shuvalov, Chairman of VEB.RF
– Alexander Shokhin, President of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP)
That’s in addition to Lavrov, Peskov, Shoigu, Belousov, and others.
That is a full house, and represents major deals being formed.
The Ukrainian officer agrees:
Such a list of decision-makers from the financial and economic sectors suggests that this delegation is not ordinary but rather an ambitious and serious effort to deepen economic and financial cooperation with China.
Given the presence of the newly appointed Minister of Defense and the Director of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation, we should also anticipate discussions on military-industrial cooperation. This should not be dismissed as a routine event.
The last time Shoigu visited North Korea, Russia received millions of artillery shells and ballistic missiles. However, unlike that delegation, this one is heavily represented by the financial and economic sectors, suggesting Russia’s serious intent to address economic and financial problems caused by war.
Read not only the bolded, but the last paragraph above.
There are other indicators and rumors that Russia, specifically, will be making some sort of major drone-tech related partnerships.
Arnaud Bertrand sums up some of the most significant details:
ER: We link to this 8,000 word joint statement below —
Read his elucidating thread, with key points being:
Building a new world order, consisting of:
And:
Russia and China are truly shaping up to lead the world together through the adolescence of this century, reshaping the international order into one based on real principles rather than the fraudulently imagined crony “rules based order” trap of the dying Anglo-American Empire. …
CONTINUE READING HERE
********
See this from Moon of Alabama, giving an initial take (two extracts: on multipolar governance and the war in Ukraine) on the 8,000 word joint statement issued by Putin and Xi —
Russia, China Reveal Their Global Agenda
MOON OF ALABAMA
There will be more to say about the nearly 8,000 words long
Joint Statement of the People’s Republic of China and the Russian Federation on deepening the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership in the new era on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries (in Mandarin) (h/t Arnaud Bertrand).
CONTINUE READING HERE
********
STRATEGIC CULTURE
This week, for those willing to perceive reality objectively, displayed two kinds of world order. The heartening news is that one will prevail over the other and thereby produce a better world for humanity, one of dignity and development for the common good.
It was a momentous occasion this week when Russian President Vladimir Putin visited China where he was warmly greeted by Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping. Both leaders affirmed their friendship and their vision of a multipolar world based on partnership and mutual benefit. Putin and Xi signed numerous agreements on a wide range of trade and development projects covering energy, technology, engineering, construction, agriculture, infrastructure and military defense.
The visit was Putin’s second to China since October last year. It was his first foreign trip since he was inaugurated earlier this month as president for a fifth term. Both leaders have established a tradition of visiting each other’s countries as a first international stop upon their respective inaugurations. On beginning his third time as China’s president in 2023, Xi made Russia his first international destination. Over the past two decades, both men have met as leaders on at least 40 occasions.
…
Putin stated:
“We work in solidarity on forming a more just and democratic multipolar world order which should rely on the central role of the United Nations and its Security Council, international law and the cultural and civilizational diversity, a verified balance of interests of all participants of the world community.”
For his part, Xi remarked that Russia-China ties have “set a model of mutual respect, frankness, harmony and mutual benefit,” and he emphasized their commitment to “fairness and justice”.
Both men underscored that their alliance and vision did not seek to threaten anyone. They appealed for diplomacy and reasonable dialogue in settling international conflicts, including in Ukraine and the Middle East.
President Xi did not mention specific nations but it was patent that he was referring to the United States when he denounced “Cold War mentality…unilateralism, hegemonism, bloc confrontation and power politics” as threats to peace and international security.
By contrast, from two world statesmen representing progressive humanism, we may turn to the other kind of world on display this week, the one that Xi alluded to with his denunciation of Cold War mentality.
The second vision is anachronistic, abject, and failing. It is the world order that dominated since the Second World War based on Western hegemony, or more euphemistically, called the “rules-based order”. The lead hegemon is the United States whose Western allies are vassals to service its order of privilege and exploitation of others in a neocolonial paradigm.
…
Only days before Putin arrived in Beijing, Chinese President Xi took a European official trip where he met France’s Emmanuel Macron, followed by Hungary’s Viktor Orban. During Xi’s European visit, Biden announced a raft of anti-China economic measures including new tariffs on $18 billion worth of Chinese exports. That’s on top of the tariffs already imposed on $300 billion of exports that Biden maintains from the Trump administration. There is no doubt that Washington chose the opportunity to ramp up tensions with China while Xi was in Europe. This is the American ploy for dredging up divisions and antagonism as a way to try to bolster its (waning) global power.
…
The empirical upshot is that the Western-dominated global disorder is obsolete and decaying. The U.S.-led empire of neocolonial capitalist predation and aggression is dying by the day. A new world order is emerging based on equality and genuine democratic respect. That new world is already present and exemplified in the form of Russia and China’s friendship.
There are sound, if deplorable, reasons why U.S. imperialists like Henry Kissinger and Zbigniew Brzezinski always feared the historical alignment of Russia and China as portending disaster… disaster, that is, for U.S. imperialism.
Fortunately, for the rest of the world, there is hope for a better world of peace and prosperity. Russia’s Putin and China’s Xi are harbingers of that better future.
The combined military and economic strength of Russia and China together with the political wisdom of their leaders are a guarantor for a better world, despite the immense danger stemming from the nefarious Neros of the decadent Western empire.
Source
************
••••
The Liberty Beacon Project is now expanding at a near exponential rate, and for this we are grateful and excited! But we must also be practical. For 7 years we have not asked for any donations, and have built this project with our own funds as we grew. We are now experiencing ever increasing growing pains due to the large number of websites and projects we represent. So we have just installed donation buttons on our websites and ask that you consider this when you visit them. Nothing is too small. We thank you for all your support and your considerations … (TLB)
••••
Comment Policy: As a privately owned web site, we reserve the right to remove comments that contain spam, advertising, vulgarity, threats of violence, racism, or personal/abusive attacks on other users. This also applies to trolling, the use of more than one alias, or just intentional mischief. Enforcement of this policy is at the discretion of this websites administrators. Repeat offenders may be blocked or permanently banned without prior warning.
••••
Disclaimer: TLB websites contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available to our readers under the provisions of “fair use” in an effort to advance a better understanding of political, health, economic and social issues. The material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving it for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material for purposes other than “fair use” you must request permission from the copyright owner.
••••
Disclaimer: The information and opinions shared are for informational purposes only including, but not limited to, text, graphics, images and other material are not intended as medical advice or instruction. Nothing mentioned is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.
Maybe they should go and hug the Uyghurs.