What the heck is The West vs.Russia & China ? — A Perspective, in view of the War by Russia

I came across two interesting articles on this topic.

• First one “The Weakness of the Despot” in The New Yorker [Here], interview of Stephen Kotkin (historian, author and professor at Princeton) by David Remnick (Chief Editor at the New Yorker)
• Second, a paper “Possible Outcomes of the Russo-Ukrainian War and China’s Choice” [Here] by Hu Wei

Hu Wei article, a controversial analysis widely shared overseas but censored in China — was 1st posted in China. It was promptly pulled from Chinese cyberspace — deleted all mention from WeChat with a notice by WeChat stating it “violates regulations”. A handful of reposts of the article by other WeChat accounts were also deleted.

Later, the english translation gained popularity outside China !

Interestingly, Hu Wei is the chairman of Shanghai Public Policy Research Association; expertise is mainly on domestic governance and he has a record of pushing the envelope.

• South China Post has an interesting take [Here] on Hu Wei’s article.

The Weakness of the Despot [Here]

Good read — interesting questions from David Remnick (Chief Editor at the New Yorker) and equally compelling answers from Stephen Kotkin (historian, author and professor at Princeton)

• NATO expansion has put us in a better place to deal with this historical pattern in Russia that we’re seeing again today
• <ks> I had raised the same logic in my note in Linkedin [Here]. “Putin is an imperialist not an industrialist — so his response will be what it is, irrespective what NATO or Europe or America does” </ks>
• Stephen’s definition of West is definitely interesting

The West is a series of institutions and values. The West is not a geographical place. Russia is European, but not Western. Japan is Western, but not European. “Western” means rule of law, democracy, private property, open markets, respect for the individual, diversity, pluralism of opinion, and all the other freedoms that we enjoy, which we sometimes take for granted. We sometimes forget where they came from. But that’s what the West is. And that West, which we expanded in the nineties, in my view properly, through the expansion of the European Union and nato, is revived now, and it has stood up to Vladimir Putin in a way that neither he nor Xi Jinping expected.

Possible Outcomes of the Russo-Ukrainian War and China’s Choice

Censored in China, but popular in other places; interesting thoughts …

• Hu Wei expects Russia to face immense military and economic challenges while China would become more isolated by the world if it did not move to sever ties with Putin
• The conflict may escalate further, and the West’s eventual involvement in the war cannot be ruled out.
• The United States would regain leadership in the Western world, and the West would become more united
• China cannot be tied to Putin and needs to be cut off as soon as possible

What about Putin ?

• Urgently essential read
• “Putin’s Playbook” [Here] by Rebekah Koffler
• “The Cancellation of Mother Russia Is Underway” [Here] at NYTimes.com by Tom Friedman
• “Why Vladimir Putin has already lost this war” [Here] from The Guardian by @YuvalNoahHarari
• [Update 3/15/22] “The Immediate Challenge in Ukraine: Maximum Pressure Combined With Structured Negotiation” [Here] from The Guardian by Tony Blair, former UK PM