There is now a long line of people waiting patiently to buy coffee from Yevhen and Olena’s cafe, which opened yesterday and was heavily damaged in last night’s attack on Kyiv.
For 30 years, Russia pushed the narrative that Ukraine’s aspiration to join the EU would reduce it to Europe’s raw-material appendage and degrade the country.
History has turned the story upside down.
Ukraine is becoming a backbone of high-tech security solutions for Europe and beyond. Russia is sliding into the role it once assigned to us: a raw-material appendage to China.
I suspect Putin understands the indignity of this reversal. But his obsession with Ukraine is now stronger than his instinct for national pride.
His visit to China only confirmed it. Strip away the rhetoric, and the main project is gas supplies — a symbol of Russia’s broader drift into feeding China’s economy with energy and raw materials.
Putin wants to sell. Xi is in no rush. He wants the best terms from a weakened partner.
China does not embrace Putin. It extracts value from him.
The good news is that Xi needs Putin weak. The bad news is that he still needs him.
@OscDomesticated For more than 4 years Ukraine has been defending itself “by the book”. It’s way past time for russian civilians to be targeted as much as Ukrainians have been. Perhaps then they’ll call for an end to putin’s reign and the war against Ukraine… but I won’t be holding my breath 😏
@OscDomesticated For more than 4 years Ukraine has been defending itself “by the book”. It’s way past time for russian civilians to be targeted as much as Ukrainians have been. Perhaps then they’ll call for an end to putin’s reign and the war against Ukraine… but I won’t be holding my breath 😏