[IMG]http://beta.images.theglobeandmail.com/917/report-on-business/international-business/european-business/article18231698.ece/ALTERNATES/w620/china-russia26rb1.JPG[/IMG]
[QUOTE]On March 20, the U.S. authorized sanctions against billionaire Gennady Timchenko amid the escalating crisis between Russia and Ukraine. Three weeks later, the Russian tycoon, who amassed a fortune trading oil and selling natural gas, appeared on Russian television. He was not in Russia at the time. He was in China. The West, he said, was “pushing us away.” China was not. In fact, Chinese companies were talking with Mr. Timchenko about buying more of Russia’s abundant energy.
“There is a market with a lot of potential developing in the Asia-Pacific region,” said the billionaire, who boasts close ties to Vladimir Putin and has been called one of Russia’s most powerful men.
This week, the country’s Prime Minister was even more explicit: “We are interested in diversifying today more so than ever before. Therefore we are implementing solutions for the export of gas and oil to Asian and Pacific countries, first and foremost China,” Dmitry Medvedev said on Russian television.
As the global fissures radiating from Russia’s moves against Ukraine call into question the future of its ties with Western powers, Russia is increasingly casting its gaze east, to a distant border long neglected. In May, Mr. Putin is expected to come to Beijing to sign a major contract that will see Russia pipe vast quantities of natural gas to China. It will mark the sixth meeting between Mr. Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping since the beginning of 2013, as Russia pushes for a “pivot east” that has taken on sudden new urgency in the wake of the country’s moves in Ukraine, which have earned it global criticism, and an increasing likelihood of punitive sanctions.
The change stands to have wide-reaching ramifications, redrawing geopolitical alignments and altering global energy flows, a matter of concern to Canada, among others.
For Russia’s economy, Ukraine stands to create “a major crisis,” said Vassily Kasin, a China expert with the Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, a Moscow-based defence studies organization. “And China will become the major economic partner.” The two countries “will in fact move very close to an alliance, I think,” he said. “This is a major change.”
In recent weeks, Russian banking leaders have publicly discussed the possibility of joining with China’s UnionPay credit card system – the world’s third most popular – as an alternative to Visa and MasterCard, amid worries they will be shut out of Western payment systems. Russian companies are exploring ways to use Chinese public markets over Western alternatives. Russia’s defence community believes sales of highly sophisticated fighter jets and submarines to China are increasingly likely.
Driving the new urgency is a realization that, though sanctions are limited for now, there is a risk the international community will impose a more severe chokehold on Russia. “The chances of isolation from the West are a real risk that Russia has to take into account,” said Ildar Davletshin, a Moscow-based oil and gas analyst with Renaissance Capital.
Ties between the two countries have steadily strengthened in recent years. China now forms roughly 10 per cent of Russia’s trade, higher than any other individual nation (although EU zone countries are, together, roughly four times higher). In the past 12 months, Russia has signalled a willingness to move further, as the country opens some of its crown jewels to Chinese ownership. In October, oil and gas company Rosneft signed a 51-49 joint venture with China National Petroleum Corporation to explore for oil in Eastern Siberia, whose reserves could be used to fuel Chinese cars. Last June, CNPC also took a 20 per cent stake in Yamal LNG, a giant Arctic natural gas development being pursued by NOVATEK, another large Russian energy company.
Other indications suggest a broad ascent in business between the two countries. Direct trade between the ruble and China’s yuan began in late 2010. At that time, Russia’s Micex exchange said it expected three-million yuan to change hands daily. By last June, it had risen to 34-million a day, with a single-day peak in July, 2013, of 55-million (about $9.4-million at the time).[/QUOTE]
[url]http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/international-business/european-business/the-bear-and-the-dragon-russia-pivots-to-china-in-the-face-of-western-sanctions/article18231699/[/url]
I still have my copy of World in Conflict right besides me! I play it on a regularly bases :)
Would love if they just made a sequel to it :(
[QUOTE=ZyreHD;44648322]I still have my copy of World in Conflict right besides me! I play it on a regularly bases :)
Would love if they just made a sequel to it :([/QUOTE]Don't worry, Putin is hard at work creating material for the sequel :v:
i wonder what russia will look like when oil is worthless.
[QUOTE=Bobie;44648480]i wonder what russia will look like when oil is worthless.[/QUOTE]
[t]http://www.mobygames.com/images/shots/l/245726-s-t-a-l-k-e-r-shadow-of-chernobyl-windows-screenshot-the-town.jpg[/t]
[QUOTE=Bobie;44648480]i wonder what russia will look like when oil is worthless.[/QUOTE]
Putin's head will transform into a giant tokomak reactor
Am I the only one that thinks this whole situation with Russia is starting to get a little unnerving?
[QUOTE=ewitwins;44651213]Am I the only one that thinks this whole situation with Russia is starting to get a little unnerving?[/QUOTE]
We've seen this sort of stuff before with the Dragon and the Bear
[QUOTE={TFS} Rock Su;44648763][t]http://www.mobygames.com/images/shots/l/245726-s-t-a-l-k-e-r-shadow-of-chernobyl-windows-screenshot-the-town.jpg[/t][/QUOTE]
But thats Ukraine
[QUOTE=Zillamaster55;44651244]We've seen this sort of stuff before with the Dragon and the Bear[/QUOTE]
"No one knows when The End will come. But here's what it will look like when it do..."
What happened to you China? You used to be cool
[QUOTE=Darth_Kris;44651284]But thats Ukraine[/QUOTE]
Not for long.
[QUOTE=Darth_Kris;44651284]But thats Ukraine[/QUOTE]
When the chernobyl incident happened, Ukraine was part of the soviet union.
I wonder how the Kremlin will feel when China is using the same excuse and tactics against them when they annex Siberia.
[QUOTE={TFS} Rock Su;44648763][t]http://www.mobygames.com/images/shots/l/245726-s-t-a-l-k-e-r-shadow-of-chernobyl-windows-screenshot-the-town.jpg[/t][/QUOTE]
Honestly, it looks like that in my hometown, except it's not so empty.
[QUOTE=SouthParkMGT;44651596]Honestly, it looks like that in my hometown, except it's not so empty.[/QUOTE]
Such is the life, etc.
[QUOTE=SouthParkMGT;44651596]Honestly, it looks like that in my hometown, except it's not so empty.[/QUOTE]
what type of anomalies do you get
[QUOTE=SouthParkMGT;44651596]Honestly, it looks like that in my hometown, except it's not so empty.[/QUOTE]
I went to Russia once and the apartment buildings over there looked so fucking stereotypical.
Some Pripyat shit, seriously.
[QUOTE=Saturn V;44651695]I went to Russia once and the apartment buildings over there looked so fucking stereotypical.
Some Pripyat shit, seriously.[/QUOTE]
It's because of the Soviet Union. They would just use the same non-nondescript apartment block design and copy it across a city, from what I have been told they were decent apartments and rent was only a few kopecks a month.
[QUOTE=Greg25kk;44653156]It's because of the Soviet Union. They would just use the same non-nondescript apartment block design and copy it across a city, from what I have been told they were decent apartments and rent was only a few kopecks a month.[/QUOTE]
That is how I made my cities on minecraft with worldedit.
no kidding russia will pivot to the only other guy not giving them a cold shoulder
[QUOTE=Beafman;44648159][media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7cWFcZNJkA[/media][/QUOTE]
Shame, it was a fucking great game. It was ahead of its time. But the company just had to close down. The was a fucking good one too, closest to this was probably OFP. And it could had been great material for a movie/book.
[QUOTE=Ignhelper;44654722]Shame, it was a fucking great game. It was ahead of its time. But the company just had to close down. The was a fucking good one too, closest to this was probably OFP. And it could had been great material for a movie/book.[/QUOTE]
Close down? Nononono, they got bought out by Ubisoft
[QUOTE=Ignhelper;44654722]Shame, it was a fucking great game. It was ahead of its time. But the company just had to close down. The was a fucking good one too, closest to this was probably OFP. And it could had been great material for a movie/book.[/QUOTE]
And nobody remembers who the real hero of this game was.
That fucking cop who stood among soldiers and faced down the Russians with a revolver.
[t]http://www.imfdb.org/images/a/a6/Wic_2011-07-22_04-36-19-12.jpg[/t]
[QUOTE=Mr. Someguy;44656553]And nobody remembers who the real hero of this game was.
That fucking cop who stood among soldiers and faced down the Russians with a revolver.
[t]http://www.imfdb.org/images/a/a6/Wic_2011-07-22_04-36-19-12.jpg[/t][/QUOTE]
I always loved how the cops were involved in the opening parts, wish they were in the later ones too.
I like to try and recreate the Seattle scenes in Arma 3. Sadly the AI doesn't like being stupidly cinematic, so oh well.
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