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Monday, May 11th, 2015

China Is Becoming Russia’s Economic ‘Loan Shark’

Author:     Samuel Oakford
Source:     Vice News
Publication Date:     May 8, 2015 | 1:48 pm
 Link: China Is Becoming Russia’s Economic ‘Loan Shark’
Stephan:   This is a very important geopolitical story, and it has gotten almost no coverage in the U.S. This and the pipelines the Russians and Chinese are negotiating constitute a consciously taken shift of power. From a Chinese point of view working with Russia puts America off-balance. For the Russians it is a validation independent of the West, and bolsters their economy. Meanwhile we are mired in the Islamic Crescent, our force and standing in the world dissipated by endless war. And in those lands where the battle rage we are seen as a kind of Judeo-Christian American reincarnation of a 13th century crusade. We are being outplayed.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and Chinese President Xi Jinping Credit: www.timesunion.com

Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and Chinese President Xi Jinping
Credit: www.timesunion.com

While the world watches Moscow’s ostentatious commemoration of 70th anniversary of the end of World War II this Saturday, the eyes of Russia’s politicians and bankers will be firmly fixed on China’s President Xi Jinping — or, more specifically, on his pen.

Xi, who will attend the WWII festivities as part of his three-day trip to Moscow, has already inked a number of deals this week cementing China’s investment in Russia’s floundering economy. While the two countries have played up Xi’s budding friendship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, experts say China is playing coy and stands to gain from Russia’s desperation. One went so far as to say Beijing has become Moscow’s “loan shark.”

Moscow has been hit hard by a combination of low oil prices and economic sanctions imposed by Western countries after its annexation of Crimea last year and for its support of rebels in eastern Ukraine. Since last April, the Kremlin’s foreign reserves have fallen by more than […]

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