I often wonder how this relationship works when the west collapses? We support Putin in being anti-western imperialism but when that’s no longer and issue? He’s still a real bastard and Russia is still a capitalist hell hole that oppresses the shit out of its working class. If the West collapses and Russian capitalism is free to doing it’s own imperialism… They absolutely will. The capitalist always will. They aren’t going to just stay home. Will China do anything to stop them?
This isn’t saying anything negative about this current relations. Just wondering how things will evolve as time goes on.
Putin will only be president for a few more years. Same with Xi Jinping. Both are pretty old now and will eventually retire. Western imperialism is collapsing but it’s not collapsing overnight, this is a long process, and there are also internal processes in Russia that are happening and which will accelerate if and when the stability of the Putin years ends. The broader economic and geopolitical re-alignment of Russia is bigger than just this government, it is increasingly becoming embedded in the Russian society and economy, and this will also continue as it is a process with its own inertia that once it has picked up speed is very hard to stop or reverse.
I don’t know that Russia will be in a position to do imperialism in the foreseeable future. For one, Russia is a country with a very low population density and a huge amount of resources. So, it’s pretty far from the imperialist stage of capitalism where domestic resources are exhausted and capitalists have to start looking outwards. By then, the world might be a very different place with much of the Global South having become far stronger than it is today.
It’s also worth noting that there are socialist forces in Russia as well, and I do think the relationship with China will necessarily having a positive effect there. Most people in Russia have a positive view of USSR, the communist party, while a shadow of its former self, is still far more left than anything you’d find in the west. They have fairly broad support that could be built upon.
It’s hard to say how thing will pan out going forward, but I’m personally optimistic that China can lead by example. They don’t need to aggressively export their model, merely act as a demonstration of how well it works for them. Western system is becoming rapidly discredited even in the west itself, and capitalism is losing its shine in the minds of the global majority. I don’t think it’s unrealistic to imagine that socialism could become the dominant ideology in the coming decades.
Trump really thought he could break them up lol
I think Putin was ready to make a deal but his terms and conditions, such as, removing sanctions, respecting its borders, sovereignty, either end NATO or invite them as a member and respect them as a major world power, or whatever… was too much to ask from Washington.
There was actually an interesting speech Putin gave to Russian business leaders where he basically explained that he does not expect relations with the west to improve substantially going forward.
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
