MY THOUGHTS About News and Stuff.

Previously posted on my Facebook Page.

Time: “China Says It Doesn’t Want Conflict. Its Actions at Sea Suggest Otherwise.” From a journalism point of view, this coverage is one-sided. Let's look at the tally board. China has only 1 foreign military base, in Djibouti. True, the CCP has established a naval facility in Cambodia, Ream Naval Base. The U.S.? In addition to the potentially nine military bases in the Philippines, the Pentagon has 313 more in East Asia alone. Overall, 750 in 80 countries. 

       Currently, China has only one foreign military base located in Djibouti in East Africa. Building a naval facility capable of accommodating military vessels in the western region of the South China Sea would be a crucial step in China’s efforts to expand its influence in the area. Why would China focus on military grandiosity when it already rules the region’s economic roost. Meanwhile, the U.S. Army Pacific has approximately 106,000 personnel, plus over 300 aircraft and five watercraft assigned throughout the AOR from Japan and Korea to Solomon Islands and to Alaska and Hawaii. 🇺🇸☮️🇨🇳

New York Times: “Chris Licht Is Out at CNN, Leaving Network at a Crossroads.” And adds: “Mr. Licht’s turbulent time running the 24-hour news organization lasted slightly more than a year.” I actually thought Mr Licht was fired already or few months ago when he criticized internal newsroom tact as one-sided, sort of. The real issue here is Fox or the Murdoch empire still rules the TV media planet, viewership or profit. CNN's viewer share is why below Fox and MSNBC for years now. 

       On a parallel vein per Fox, though the network is still #1, its ratings fell by around 50 percent since top draw Tucker Carlson left. Fox's audience among 25- to 54-year-olds had shrunk by two thirds. 💻📺🖥

New York Times: “Hundreds Were Mistakenly Told They Might Have Cancer, Test Company Says.” Many deaths could be prevented if the rate of misdiagnosis was not so high. Approximately 10 to 20 percent of all cases of cancer are misdiagnosed. One study found that about 28 percent of the mistakes made out of 583 cases were life threatening or life altering. I bet, the same with mental health. Bipolar diagnosis after two 1 hour sessions? Next: Prescription drugs. 🩺🩻🩺

New York Times: “Oklahoma Approves First Religious Charter School in the U.S.” And adds: “The school will offer online, Roman Catholic instruction funded by taxpayers. Its approval is certain to tee off a legal battle over the separation of church and state.” State and local governments provide an equal share of school funding, with the federal money covering less than 10 percent. Catholics also pay taxes. Why don’t we instead gear our sight on taxpayer money wasted in war? 📝✝️📝

New York Times: “Mississippi Is Offering Lessons for America on Education.” And adds: “The state shows that poverty is no excuse for failing to teach kids to read.” I concur. In my grade school days in the Philippines, we held classes under a mango tree since enrollments overflowed. And when typhoons flooded classrooms, we continued in churches. Etcetera. Still, teachers taught and we learned. Mississippi has the highest poverty rate among U.S. states at 19.58 percent. 📝✏️📝

Smithsonian: “Scientists Identify 12 Major Symptoms of Long Covid.” And adds: “The effort is a step toward accelerating research and finding treatments for the debilitating condition.” Long Covid symptoms: Chronic pain, brain fog, shortness of breath, chest pain, and intense fatigue. Five straight hours of “The Walking Dead,” while stoned and/or drunk, seated and intermittently responding to anti-Trump memes on FB, give people symptoms of “long indolence” as well. 

       News adds: “Long Covid, the condition where symptoms that surface after recovering from Covid-19 linger for weeks, months, or even years, is still a mystery to doctors and researchers.” Long Covid a.k.a. New Depression. At home, swallow Prozacs, get stoned, binge-watch on Netflix, and wait for Unemployment Benefit checks. Sarcasm, okay? 💉🥹💉

New York Times: “The United Arab Emirates Is Heading for the Asteroid Belt.” And adds: “After a successful mission to Mars, the Emirati space agency is planning a tour of the debris field between Mars and Jupiter.” All good. Spread the space knowledge out. Nations around the world spent a total of $92 billion on the "space sector" in 2021. I dig this. Yet the Ukraine war cost the global economy over $1.6 trillion. You dig? End the war! Let’s shake hands with extra-terrestrials! 

       The United States' space budget is far and away the largest on earth. With $62 billion of expenditure on its space programs last year, U.S. government spending outweighed that of all other governments combined ($41 billion). Second place: China $11.94b. Third: Japan $4.90b. Fourth: France $4.20b. And fifth, yes only fifth: Russia $3.42b. 🛰🛸🚀

New York Times: “Robert Kennedy Jr., With Musk, Pushes Right-Wing Ideas and Misinformation.” Mr. Kennedy said he wanted to close the Mexican border and attributed the rise of mass shootings to pharmaceutical drugs. I don’t see Right-wing (or Left-wing) “ideas or misinformation” behind closing borders (isn’t this no brainer?)  or mass shootings are exacerbated by excessive drugs, legal or illegal. Although these require lengthier discussion. 

       NY Times adds: “Robert Kennedy Jr. is a long-shot Democratic presidential candidate with surprisingly high polling numbers.” 🏦🗽🏦

Time: “Volunteering May Boost Kids' Well-Being, Study Says.” Whatever happened to the young as humanity gets engulfed by 21st century’s bombastic computer technology? Cold, cool inertia (sic). Detained in their gadget? People aged 65–74 (58 percent) are the age group most likely to volunteer formally. The old. Next, 30-40 years bracket, 25 percent. Volunteer work out there should fix a spike in youth depression in recent years. They gotta get out and sweat the funk out. 👧✌️🧒

New York Times: “James Beard Foundation, Whose Awards Honor Chefs, Is Now Investigating Them.” And adds: “The group behind `the Oscars of the food world’ created a new process to weed out nominees with problematic pasts. But that process has troubles of its own.” A problematic past messes up an otherwise fine paella de mariscos, I guess. So all chefs who abided by the New Morality (whatever that is),  then and now, qualify for an award? In cooking. 🍽🥣🍽

New York Times: “Bathroom Reading at Mar-a-Lago.” And adds: “Let’s Make America Great Again — by getting Trump out of politics.” I don’t think, seriously/sincerely, that Donald Trump is a focal reason why America isn’t great anymore, as the other extreme avers. But Trump is The Convenient Alibi. Perhaps if China opts to close its doors again and Russia goes back to world trade isolation unable to sell lotsa fuel, then America (maybe) loses competition and becomes great again. 🏦🗽🏦

MY THOUGHTS About News and Stuff.

Previously posted on my Facebook Page.

New York Times: “From ‘Pariah’ to Partner, Saudi Leader Defies Threats to Isolate Him.” MBS reforms: Restricts powers of religious police, improves women's rights, weakens male-guardianship system, and cultural developments such as public concerts by a female singer, increased presence of women in the workforce etcetera. His Saudi Vision 2030 program aims to diversify the country's economy through investment in non-oil sectors. Add peace talks with Houthis. 

       News adds: “Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has repeatedly leveraged Saudi Arabia’s wealth and influence to overcome international condemnation of the kingdom’s human rights violations.” Human rights violations? Tell me about a superpower that didn’t have blood on its hand. Problem is, people prefer to view an Arab, sheikh or bedouin, as clueless, dumb, and misinformed of Western capitalism. You see, the world has changed and evolved. Deal with it. 🇸🇦🇸🇦🇸🇦

Time: “A Stunning Golf Merger Shows How Saudi Cash Could Change Sports.” Pro golf is pro sports. Money. The issue: LIV Golf is financed by the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia. Yet I don’t think “Saudi cash could change sports.” Exaggeration. Corruption? So why did we have an Olympics in Brazil? How many heads of state in Brasilia have been jailed? Human rights abuses? Here we go again. Yet the bigger issue: Trump invested in LIV and he is a friend of MBS sans a fist-bump. 🏒💰🏒

Time: “The Tree of Life Trial and the Necessity to Forget Mass Violence.” This article refers to the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting by an antisemitic terrorist in Oct 2018; 11 fatalities. A necessity to forget mass violence? How can we forget? The United States has had more mass shootings than any other country, including those in perennial social disorder. Forget the horror in our midst? While the government spends billions$ of taxpayer money to an ongoing war? 

       Mass shooting is defined as an act of public firearm violence—excluding gang killings, domestic violence, or terrorist acts sponsored by an organization—in which a shooter kills at least four victims. The numbers: New York Times: Nearly one-third of the world's public mass shootings between 1966 and 2012 (90 of 292 incidents) occurred in the United States. Washington Post: 163 mass shootings in the U.S. between 1967 and June 2019. Mother Jones: 140 mass shootings between 1982 and February 2023. Associated Press: 59 mass shootings between 2006 and August 2022. The Violence Project of the National Institute of Justice: 185 mass shootings from 1966 to December 2022. The FBI: 61 events as active shooter incidents in 2021. ☮️☮️☮️

New York Times: “The World Needs Neutrals.” And adds: “Picking sides isn’t an option for humanitarian aid workers.” How’d that be possible in America? When sports, beer, and pronouns are triggers for intense political caterwaul? Many social trends divide people elsewhere as well but the U.S. stands out for its degree of divisiveness, says a Pew study. Americans are split along partisan, racial and ethnic lines. Or religion. America simply can’t agree on basic facts. 

       Take this: According to the same Pew Research survey, the countries that feel the least divided are Saudi Arabia and China. 👈🖐👉

New York Times: “Trump Pleads Not Guilty in Documents Case.” The former President pleaded not guilty to criminal charges that he risked disclosure of defense secrets etcetera. Given. The weird thing? How easy documents of those secret kinds can easily be leaked or hacked. In April, 21-year old airman Jack Teixeira leaked intelligence documents to a larger group. Just like that. The U.S. should protect its classified info from hackers, instead. Just saying. 😏😒🤨

New York Times: “NATO Members Use a Major Air Exercise to Send a Message to Russia.” And adds: “More than 200 planes from 25 countries gathered in Germany for the largest-scale war games in decades.” How leadership settles economic rivalry. Military machismo. Facts: World’s #1 natural gas exporter is Russia, #1 oil exporter is Saudi Arabia, and #1 oil importer is China. These three are buddies. NATO tries to shake that triumvirate. All about oil and natural gas. 

       While Russia #1 natural gas exporter, the United States is #1 producer and second in export. The U.S. is also #1 importer of natural gas. This war isn’t all about Ukraine per se; this is all about who rules the global energy market. ☮️⛽️☮️

New York Times: “As Ukraine Launches Counteroffensive, Definitions of ‘Success’ Vary.” Propaganda war. Primary objective of propaganda is to break down the enemy’s will to fight, reinforced by public perception of who’s winning and who’s losing. In these times of market economics, war narrative leans towards propaganda mojo, which influences Congress decisions such as continuous $aid to Volodymyr Zelensky’s Kyiv leadership. He’s got to justify the arms aid, somehow. 

       The U.S. alone has tossed almost $50 billion, or 61 percent of total aid, to Ukraine since the beginning of war in Feb 2022. News adds: ““Privately, U.S. and European officials concede that pushing all of Russia’s forces out of occupied Ukrainian land is highly unlikely.” Just end the war, please! 🇺🇦☮️🇷🇺

Time: “Why the Advice to Follow Your Dreams Is Selling Graduates Short.” College has historically yielded greater career opportunities and higher earning potential. The average cost of attendance for a student living on campus at a public 4-year in-state institution is $25,707 per year or $102,828 over 4 years. This: Cut Defense budget and allot $ to Education. But, for now, those who owed money? Pay. No money to pay despite a college degree? I don’t know about that. 👩‍🎓💰🧑‍🎓

New York Times: “Your Most Ambivalent Relationships Are the Most Toxic.” And adds: “Science shows that seesaw relationships can be more damaging than those that are purely negative.” Uh huh. Meanwhile, divorce rates in the United States have been steadily declining over the past few decades, but unfortunately, the divorce rate is still higher than it was in the early 1970s. But divorce isn’t linear or one-dimensional as in “I don’t want to be with you anymore.” Toxicity is relative. 💓💔💖

New York Times: “Second Plane Carrying Migrants Arrives in Sacramento.” As California officials accused Florida of shipping migrants to its capital city last week, about 20 more arrived last Monday on the same chartered plane. Childish? Republican governors have been sending migrants released at the U.S. border to Democratic strongholds. Short of telling the Dem, you want them, here they are! Then why let them cross in droves of thousands each day, anyway. 🏃‍♀️🗽🏃

MY THOUGHTS About News and Stuff.

Previously posted on my Facebook Page.

New York Times: “A ‘Thaw’ in U.S.-China Relations Seems Far From Reach.” Situations evolved into a complex web of murkthrows, beginning 2021. A diplomatic re-engagement is now hobbled by political shoving. Yet per Donald Trump’s trade pact with Xi Jinping in early 2020, China agreed to buy a total of $502.4 billion of U.S. exports over two years. That was a good start for more negotiations. But President Biden’s hawkish follow through easily derailed further talks. 

       The Biden administration continues to employ strong-arm tactics as he did with Russia, which didn’t work. And shrewd as they are, the CCP seemed expecting this from Joe. So days after the Nov 2020 elections, Beijing gathered 15 economies in the region to form RCEP, the largest trade bloc ever. While the U.S. was busy with internal political intramurals, China and Russia went to work. Russia collared or solidified its hold of the European fuel market. A war had to happen to halt that economic march. But how to stop China from its already out-there trade expansionism? Another war? 🇨🇳☮️🇺🇸

New York Times: “Americans Were Aware of Intelligence Warning of Ukrainian Pipeline Attacks.” And adds: “The Washington Post reported that U.S. intelligence agencies were aware of plans to attack the Nord Stream pipelines three months before they were bombed.” Weird, isn’t it? Whether Kyiv military is guilty (which Z denies, as expected) or not, or Kremlin decides to bomb its own facility, why not stop it based on intel? Am I clueless, or playing dumb? Is it no brainer? 

       Take note as well that four utility/energy giants in Europe have invested on Nord Stream 2, with Moscow’s Gazprom as main operator/financier. NS2 is not a KGB building in Russia, it is a valuable pipeline that serves the E.U., mostly. That is the issue: Market competition. 🇺🇦⛽️🇷🇺

New York Times: “Indian Official Who Drained a Reservoir to Retrieve His Phone Is Suspended.” And adds: “Rajesh Vishwas, a food inspector, used a diesel pump to empty part of a reservoir where he had lost his smartphone.” A Pew study says most people in the world say cellphones are good for society, regardless of their impact on children. But then, in case you got riled up in a Facebook chat, and dropped your phone in a reservoir, buy a new one. Don't follow Rajesh's example.

       Fact: People are spending more and more time on their phones, increasing their usage time almost 50 percent from 2019 to 2020. Also, a Pew survey that was conducted across 11 countries, people’s attitudes toward mobile phones tend to be largely positive. Unless we are talking about Rajesh dude, of course. 📱👳‍♂️📲

New York Times: “Larger Screens, Heated Seats, Sushi: Theater Owners Want You Back.” Not the pandemic or wayward virus. Two huge reasons why I now feel indifferent about going to moviehouses.  <1>I don’t feel safe in a public space anymore. Or protected. Need I elaborate? <2>Movies these days are mostly politically-correct yarns and high-tech superhero noise. Streaming TV series at home are much, much better. Lots of choices. And safer, so more comfortable. 🎥👎📽

New York Times: “Crucial Dam Destroyed on Southern Ukraine’s Front Lines.” And adds: “The damage threatened the safety of a nearby nuclear plant and forced the evacuation of thousands.” Thought: What if the U.S. didn't hand Ukraine those weapons and the war lasted only a month, at least? Then Moscow and Kyiv sat to settle their gas dispute. No more annihilation in Donbas. No NATO. Russian fuel flowed to Europe via Nord Stream 2. Not that simple, right? 

       Volodymyr Zelensky blamed Russia, of course, for the dam destruction. Etcetera. More weapons to Kyiv? A counter-offensive as Z brags will only escalate hostilities. (Reports are vague if Ukraine indeed launched a counter-offensive though.) Time to end the war and direct all the aid to reconstruction in villages that were crushed. Negotiations should happen in a ceasefire, brokered by both the U.S. and China. Meanwhile, the other News: “Biden Administration Shrugs Off Ukraine’s Attacks in Russia.” And adds: “For months, U.S. officials said cross-border operations risked a dangerous escalation. But those fears have ebbed.” 🇺🇦☮️🇷🇺

New York Times: “The Debt-Limit Deal Suggests Debt Will Keep Growing, Fast.” And adds: “Negotiations to prevent a government default reaffirmed that the big drivers of future deficits are all off the table in a divided Washington.” Deficit growth is caused primarily by three key drivers of spending — demographics, healthcare costs, and interest on the debt. Economists say. What about military expenditures or billions$ to a war in 12 months? Not a major cause? 💸🗽💸

New York Times: “How a Dark Fleet Moves Russian Oil.” And adds: “Oil tankers faked their locations while transporting Russian oil under Western sanctions.” Figure this out: As war exploded and sanctions fluttered in the air, Indian traders continually delivered Russian oil to Europe and the U.S., undetected or simply allowed to. In a single year, India has become the world's second-largest buyer of Russian crude oil after China. Remember, these three countries are BRICS partners. ⛴🛟⛽️

Time: “Why Waking Up Earlier Isn't Necessarily Better.” Let me put it this way. Depends on your work schedule, you may wake up at 5 AM or 11 AM. Or if you have kids to look after, you gotta wake up early to prepare them for school. So what's better is what works in your life and responsibilities. Even if you are single or whatever, you still gotta wake up early to let the dog out for the morning rituals. If you don't, your AI companion will smack you. Life. 🥱😴🥱

Time/AP: “Wanted a Lighthouse? Here's Your Chance. The U.S. Is Giving Some Away.” Zombie apocalypse or per my reclusive nature, I always fantasize owning a lighthouse. The isolation and serenity of the sea attract me. But naturally, I'll have a dog and two cats. Cost of a lighthouse though is from $10k to $27k. Michigan has the most lighthouses, 115. Let me dream. Yet even if they’re free as reported, maintenance is an issue. Could Amazon and Grabhub deliver there? 

       The National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act, passed in 2000, helps the government preserve lighthouses that are no longer needed by the Coast Guard. 🛟🛥⚓️

Time: “AI Is Not an Arms Race,” says columnist Katja Grace. Of course, we are not talking about nuclear weapons or WMDs here. But this: Lethal autonomous weapons and AWS that are currently exploiting A.I. Think autonomous stationary sentry guns and remote weapon stations programmed to fire at humans and vehicles, killer robots a.k.a. “slaughter bots” and drone swarms with autonomous targeting capabilities. Parallel evil. And more, upcoming. 🤖☮️🤖

The Russia Story.

Previously posted on my Facebook Page. 

THERE are a lot of stories—front, back, center, and sides—of Russia. But most of these are mysteries, hearsays, speculations, or outright biased judgments. Most are borne from the fact that Russia is the United States’ traditional antithesis. The favorite anti-hero, villain, and antagonist. Yet there are more know about this transcontinental country that spans Eastern Europe and Northern Asia, dating back to Oldowan period in the early Lower Paleolithic—than its enigmatic ruler Vladimir Putin.

       Sans the 14 republics that were part of the USSR till 1991, the Russian Federation is the largest country in the world by area, and Moscow, the capital, is the largest city entirely within Europe. But Russia’s population of 144.1 million is only ranked 9th in the world.

       More significantly, Russia is again the leading rival of the United States in Big Energy supremacy, the measure of real geopolitical power. While the U.S. is currently #1 in oil production, oil export, and natural gas production, Russia is #2 (or #3) in other categories—but #1 in natural gas export. The U.S. is only a distant #6 in natural gas sales. The other superpower China, which also a Top 5 or Top 10 producer of oil and natural gas, choose to keep their energy resources mostly stocked up for “rainy days.” But China is top oil importer and #3 buyer of natural gas.

       Finally, Moscow has realized a true rivalry in oil/natural gas with America, that could have ensued in the Middle East when oil was first discovered in the desert in the 1940s. Animosities never die though the Cold War also ended upon collapse of the Soviets in 1991. All three superpowers heavily trade with each other these days. China is the United States’ top trading partner; China is also Russia’s top business comrade.

       Yet there were speculations before Joe Biden sat in White House. Time’s Ian Bremmer wrote in 2016 that Putin will probably prove less confrontational. While he has effectively won the stalemate in Europe, and he believes he can parlay his power in Syria into an end to sanctions, a more cool mojo would benefit him most.

       But a contracting economy, rising inflation and lower oil prices will further darken the mood of life in Russia. And then here comes the Ukraine invasion 2022. President Biden has his reasons why Putin’s new aggression would benefit Washington—but the Russian strongman has his as well. Which will only unfold as the war slides on, sputters, or halts. 🇷🇺🇷🇺🇷🇺

RUSSIA is not a Top 10 world economy. But it is viewed by Washington and the West as a major threat to global security. (And now an economic “headache” due to Moscow’s oil/gas influence in the market.) Yet I don’t get the “security” paranoia. True, Moscow has the most number nuclear weapons at 6,257 against the United States’ 3,750 but seven other countries possess nukes as well—though detailed transparency is always an issue.

       Economics-wise, besides its oil and natural gas, Russia’s GDP growth rate is modest at 2.6 percent alongside a 4.4 percent unemployment rate. Chief industries (beside oil/gas): Mining, processing precious stones and metals, aircraft building, aerospace production, weapons and military machinery manufacture, electric engineering, pulp-and-paper production, automotive industry, transport, road and agriculture.

       Moscow’s top trading partners are China, The Netherlands, Germany, Belarus, the U.S. as its 5th-largest business relations. (Sure, as war rages in Ukraine, Russia isn’t a U.S. trading chum anymore.) In fact, Russia enjoys trade surplus with a number of countries, including The Netherlands, United Kingdom, Turkey, Kazakhstan, South Korea, Poland, and Finland. The U.S. also owes Russia $164 billion in (external) debt.

       Makes we wonder why countries that owe Russia money and those who buy Moscow’s energy products (like the U.K., Poland and Finland) openly sent arms support to Ukraine in its war with Russia? Politics/economics don’t mix or do they?

       Asia, notably China and South Korea, are significantly mum on the Russian invasion. A few countries, including Japan and Singapore, joined the economic sanction vs Moscow though they refused to send military equipment to Kyiv. 🇷🇺🇷🇺🇷🇺

RELATIONS between China and Russia go back to the 17th-century, when the Qing dynasty tried to drive Russian settlers out of Manchuria, but this animosity ended by the signing of the Treaty of Nerchinsk. During the Cold War, China and the USSR were rivals after the Sino-Soviet split in 1961, competing for control of the worldwide Communist movement.

       But since the end of the Soviets, the two nations gradually evolved as true friends. In 1992, Russian President Boris Yeltsin made his first official visit to China, who met with CCP general secretary Jiang Zemin. In 1996, at the end of Chinese Premier Li Peng’s visit to Moscow, Russia and China issued a joint communique pledging to build an "equal and reliable partnership." They haven’t relented since then.

       In 2001, the close relations between the two countries were formalized with the Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation, a twenty-year strategic, economic, and – controversially and arguably—an implicit military treaty. A month before the treaty was signed, the two countries joined with junior partners Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). Still active as of 2021, the organization is expected to counter the growing influence of the United States military outreach program in Central Asia.

       In February 2022, during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, China refused to consider the war in Ukraine as an invasion, and it has blamed the U.S. or President Biden in particular for goading Putin to invade. 🇷🇺🇷🇺🇷🇺

ECONOMIC relations between Russia and China demonstrate mixed trends. Until the 2008 crisis interceded. Trade slumped back to around $60 billion in 2015 and 2016 but started to recover again in 2017. Both countries are expecting to raise the trade volume to $200 billion by 2024. In 2008–2009, when Russia experienced a financial crisis, there was a sharp increase in borrowing from China.

       Since 2010, China is the largest trading partner of Russia. Significantly, the two countries are also partners in BRICS and RIC (Russia-India-China), which cemented their economic relations. The most telling testament of the economic friendship took place in 2013—when China offered Russia to be part of Belt and Road Initiative.

       This massive project a.k.a. the “New Silk Road” is designed primarily to strengthen economic ties and cooperation and to attract investors from Asia and other parts of the world to actively participate in the creation of an economic belt that is run by the Chinese. The zone should extend from China to Europe through Central Asia and Russia, as it is an important transit logistical link between China and Europe, in which the Beijing-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) may play a significant role.

       In recent years, construction of cross-border infrastructure were stepped up. New Eurasian transport routes are being built as well, including the "Chongqing-Xinjiang-Europe" railway and the "Western Europe – Western China" route, which will pass through Russia. In northeast China and the Russian far East, both countries are actively promoting the construction of bridges, ports, and other projects.

       To fortify Beijing and Moscow’s infrastructure deal per BRI, energy agreements were signed. In 2014, they signed a $400 billion gas deal. Starting 2019, Russia plans to provide natural gas to China for the next 30 years.

       Two pipelines served this purpose: The Russian Eastern Siberia – Pacific Ocean oil pipeline and the Altai gas pipeline which would link West Siberian fields with the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in western China into northeastern China. 🇷🇺🇷🇺🇷🇺

Photo credits: National Geographic. Corriere del Ticino. Russia Travel Specialists.