Russia - threadbanned users in OP

Yep. My take on China earlier in the thread was China and the "West" are like that couple who bicker like mad in public, but behind closed doors ride each other senseless, while putin looks through the keyhole pulling the skeleton out of himself. A take I haven't seen reason to change. Back and forth trade between China and the West is over ten times that with Russia and that's befoe we get to all the ancillaries like shared and exchanged intellectual property and the like. EG their incredible high speed rail network owes a lot to Western brands like Seimens and Bombardier. China may be many things, but unwise or reckless it is not. You don't get to be a 1500 year old empire by being either. Plus there's no love lost between them and Russia. Even when they were both waving little red books for the cause and the Soviet Union was a much larger world player and China the smaller their relationship was tetchy.

Plus he's missing the obvious re manufacturing; who is buying the manufactured goods and who is profiting? It's not Russia. Apple makes iphones in China, throws a huge markup on top and that cash flows into America Inc. coffers. But now since places like India and Mexico have cheaper labour, outfits like that will just move to such places. As always. Apple's already thrown billions at India and even China seeing their demographics and wage costs are looking to "do a West" too, looking to regions like Africa. The products may be made in [insert nation here] until costs rise and that's moved to [insert nation here], but those who are behind the products stay the same and from the same sources and the money flows back to the same sources. And again Russia isn't one of them.

The singular problem for the "Multipolar" world Russia forever conspiracy types online is; it's already a multipolar world, but Russia is only a small part of it, unlike when it was the USSR. Hell, it's not even the biggest player in BRICS.