The Great Game Changer: Belt and Road Intiative (BRI; OBOR)

[Habibullah Khan]

The Russian SU 300 and SU 400 air missile defense systems are simply insane. They can singlehandedly change the attack equation for your opponents.... Downwards. They are in Syria which is half the reason the US military is now so hesitant in enforcing a No Fly Zone there. The other half is the SU 3x

 

[Nevsky]

China, Russia to hold further anti-missile drills after U.S. THAAD decision
Tue Oct 11, 2016 | 4:35pm IST

China and Russia will hold their second joint anti-missile drills next year, Chinese state media said on Tuesday, after South Korea and the United States angered the two countries with plans to deploy a U.S. anti-missile system in South Korea.

The Chinese and Russian militaries held their first such exercises in May as Washington and Seoul were in discussions over installing the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system to protect against any North Korean threats.

THAAD is now due to be deployed on a South Korean golf course, unsettling Moscow and Beijing, which worry that the system's powerful radar will compromise their security and do nothing to lower temperatures on the Korean peninsula.

China and Russia announced the new round of drills for 2017 at a defence forum in Beijing, the official Xinhua news agency said. It didn't give further details.

The Global Times, a popular nationalist tabloid run by the ruling Communist Party's People's Daily, cited a senior Chinese military official criticising the THAAD plans before announcing the new round of drills.

"The United States' blind development of anti-missile systems that exceed demand and its search for absolute unilateral military superiority inevitably damage global strategic equilibrium and gravely harm major powers' strategic trust," Major General Cai Jun said.

"China and Russia are in close communication on next year's exercises," Cai, the vice head of the Central Military Commission Joint Staff Department's warfare bureau, said.

The paper also cited Cai as saying that the THAAD deployment "could lead an arms race into space".

This year's drills were held at a Russian military research centre and were intended to help the two militaries familiarise themselves with their respective command structures and data transmission processes, state media reported at the time.

Tension on the Korean peninsula has been high this year, beginning with North Korea's fourth nuclear test in January, which was followed by a satellite launch, a string of tests of various missiles, and its fifth and largest nuclear test last month.

http://in.reuters.com/article/china-russia-security-drills-idINKCN12B19U?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed:+reuters/INworldNews+(News+/+IN+/+World+News)

 

[terranMarine]

The message can't be more clearer than this, the frequent military drills between China and Russia is an indication of the highest order that our strategic partnership are at such a high level even the most stupidest person on Earth realizes what kind of signals these two (amongst the strongest military powers) are sending to US and NATO.

 

[TaiShang]

The message can't be more clearer than this, the frequent military drills between China and Russia is an indication of the highest order that our strategic partnership are at such a high level even the most stupidest person on Earth realizes what kind of signals these two (amongst the strongest military powers) are sending to US and NATO.

Exactly. This a clear message to the US-led West that the starting point of our relations is co-existence. If this cannot be respected by the US-led West, then, the privileges we have given to them for centuries will be taken away.

 

[F-22Raptor]

In a rare bit of good cyber security news, Chinese hacking thefts of American corporate secrets have plummeted in the 13 months since China signed an agreement with the Obama administration to curb economic espionage, U.S. officials and outside experts say.

Analysts say the success may hold lessons for how the U.S. should deal with Russia, which at the same time has stepped up a different sort of hacking campaign that officials says is aimed at undermining confidence in the American election.

The change in China's behavior "has been the biggest success we've had in this arena in 30 years," said Dmitri Alperovitch, co-founder of Crowdstrike, a cyber security firm that tracks computer network intrusions.

"And it wasn't anything we did in cyber space -- it was the threat of sanctions and the impact on their economy."

Alperovitch said his firm has observed a 90 percent drop in commercial hacking against U.S. firms attributable to Chinese government actors. U.S, intelligence agencies also have reported a sharp falloff, according to officials briefed on the matter.

To be sure, Alperovitch and others say, Chinese intelligence agencies are still hacking to steal national U.S. security secrets, including attacking defense firms. But those attacks are considered commonplace, because they are exactly what the National Security Agency does to China and other U.S. adversaries.

At issue in the agreement President Obama signed with President Xi Jinping in September 2015 was hacking to steal corporate intellectual property to benefit Chinese firms. The U.S. says it doesn't do that, but China did it with impunity for years, in what a former NSA director called the biggest transfer of wealth in modern history.

After years of pressure, Obama elevated the issue and threatened sanctions on China. The U.S. also indicted five members of the People's Liberation Army in 2014, accusing them of commercial hacking.

In the agreement, China essentially promised to stop doing it.

The dropoff actually began a year before the agreement was signed, according to a study released in June by the iSight intelligence unit of FireEye, a cyber security company.

"Since mid-2014, we have observed an overall decrease in successful network compromises by China-based groups against organizations in the U.S. and 25 other countries," the report said. "These shifts have coincided with ongoing political and military reforms in China, widespread exposure of Chinese cyber activity, and unprecedented action by the U.S. government."

In addition, a cyber hotline to facilitate speedy communication between China and the U.S. over hacking incidents is in the testing phase, U.S. officials told NBC News.

Instead of targeting U.S. firms, Alperovitch said, China has turned its hackers inward, probing Chinese companies as part of an anti-corruption campaign -- and also against Russia.

"We're seeing a massive increase in domestic intrusions (by the Chinese government) against companies in China where they are using this for an anti-corruption campaign," he said. "And we're actually seeing a massive increase in attacks on Russia. They've stolen everything that Russia has in the defense space."

Last week, the Obama administration formally accused Russia of a campaign of hacking designed to interfere in the U.S. election campaign, including an effort to steal and leak embarrassing emails by Democrats. So far, the U.S. has taken no observable action in response.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Tuesday that the U.S. is mulling a "proportional" response to Russia, but he declined to be more specific.

"The president has talked before about the significant capabilities that the U.S. government has to both defend our systems in the United States but also carry out offensive operations in other countries," he said on Air Force One en route to a Hillary Clinton campaign event in North Carolina. "So there are a range of responses that are available to the president and he will consider a response that is proportional."

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/russia-may-be-hacking-us-more-china-hacking-us-much-n664836

 

[cloud4000]

You know what they say: a good defence is a good offence. This is the only way Putin understands.

 

[Beast]

You know what they say: a good defence is a good offence. This is the only way Putin understands.

Yes, after Putin foolishly force Assad to agree a ceasefire against FSA and US cold blooded murder 90 of Syria soldier. Putin awaken and landed some of the most devastating bombing in Aleppo on Assad enemy.

Best defence is best offense by Putin is to bomb yr enemy to Stone Age and refuse ceasefire.

 

[Zsari]

Does the author ever consider that negotiation and agreement is what makes things work rather than threats and sanctions?

 

[ahojunk]

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Asian visits to bolster ‘Belt and Road’ construction and BRICS cooperation
(People's Daily) 10:09, October 12, 2016

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s forthcoming state visits to Cambodia and Bangladesh, and attendance at the 8th BRICS Summit in Goa, India from October 13 to 17 will promote neighborhood friendships, facilitate “Belt and Road” construction and promote BRICS cooperation, the People’s Daily wrote in an article published on Tuesday.

The editorial - under the byline of Zhong Sheng, a pseudonym often used for editorials that interpret China’s policies – praised the friendship between China and Cambodia, saying that the two countries are good neighbors with sincere and brotherly relations.

Cambodia has always upheld justice and rendered valuable support to China on issues concerning the latter’s core interests, the article added.

Xi’s visit to Cambodia, the first by a major Chinese leader since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2012, will significantly consolidate the traditional friendship between the two and deepen bilateral strategic cooperation, it said.

Speaking of Xi’s visit to Bangladesh, the first one paid by a Chinese president in 30 years, the People’s Daily defined it as a “milestone.”

“Since the establishment of diplomatic ties 41 years ago, both countries, as good neighbors, friends and partners, have yielded constant progress in bilateral relations through continued mutual respect, mutual understanding and mutual support,” said the commentary.

During his visits, Xi will bring forth new visions for cooperation and exchange views with Cambodian and Bangladeshi leaders on advancing the “Belt and Road” initiative, opening a new chapter on “Belt and Road” construction.

The “Belt and Road” initiative “originated in Asia, depends on Asia and will benefit Asia,” the paper said, pointing out that the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, part of the “Belt and Road” initiative, was first proposed by President Xi during his Southeast Asian tour three years ago.

As important regional countries and China’s friendly neighbors, Cambodia and Bangladesh have shown an active willingness to participate in the “Belt and Road” initiative, the article pointed out.

After 10 years of rapid development, the BRICS cooperation mechanism has formed a comprehensive, wide-ranging and multi-layered framework, setting an example for cooperation among emerging markets and developing countries, the article said, commenting on the five-nation bloc.

“Despite occasional doubts over the fading effectiveness of BRICS, the series of measures that have been taken to revive the economy has led to the world looking at BRICS countries in a different light,” it said.

The article also pointed out that IMF Director Christine Lagarde recently voiced her confidence in the development of BRICS members against the background of the current fragile and unbalanced world economic recovery.

The article ended by stating that it is expected that a new consensus and new outcomes regarding the “Belt and Road” construction will be brought about by Xi’s visits. It also called on BRICS countries to work together for a brighter future.

 

[TaiShang]

China, Russia pledge closer cooperation within multilateral frameworks

Source: Xinhua | 2016-10-16

Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the western Indian state of Goa, Oct. 15, 2016. (Xinhua/Yao Dawei)

GOA, India, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping met Russian President Vladimir Putin here Saturday, and the two sides vowed to advance bilateral ties and boost cooperation within multilateral frameworks.

Xi arrived in the western Indian state of Goa earlier in the day for the eighth summit of the emerging-market bloc of BRICS, which groups Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

He recalled that leaders of the five countries met last month on the sidelines of the 11th summit of the Group of 20 major economies in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou, where they had an in-depth exchange of views on promoting BRICS cooperation and reached many important consensuses.

China, said the president, hopes that the BRICS summit in Goa will achieve positive results and inject new impetus into BRICS cooperation.

As China will hold the rotating chair of BRICS in 2017, Beijing stands ready to work with Russia and all other parties concerned to make a success of the ninth summit, he added.

Noting that both China and Russia are permanent members of the UN Security Council and major emerging-market countries, Xi said the two countries should strengthen coordination and cooperation within the United Nations, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, BRICS and other multilateral frameworks.

The two sides, he added, should jointly promote a more just and reasonable international order and safeguard the interests of the emerging-market countries and developing countries.

Recalling that he and Putin held a fruitful meeting last month in Hangzhou and reached important consensuses on advancing the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination, he said the two sides should now earnestly push for their implementation.

Putin, for his part, said he is delighted to see that Russia and China have maintained close communication at high levels and in various fields, which is very important to consolidating bilateral ties.

Russia is committed to enhancing cooperation with China within multilateral frameworks and supports China in hosting the ninth BRICS summit next year, he added.

Calling China an important economic partner of Russia, Putin said his country is willing to deepen cooperation with the Chinese side in such areas as energy, transport infrastructure, aviation manufacturing and space.

Moscow, he said, also supports the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union in aligning its development strategies with the China-proposed Silk Road Economic Belt initiative and carrying out cooperation with the Chinese side.

The two leaders also had an in-depth exchange of views on the Korean Peninsula situation and other global and regional issues of shared concern.

They agreed to maintain close communication and coordination to jointly safeguard peace and stability in Northeast Asia and the common interests of the two countries as well.

India holds the rotating chair of BRICS this year, and a summit has been scheduled for the weekend in the coastal state of Goa.

 

[ahojunk]

I am not really familiar with the overall situation.

However, from what I know if I am China I won't waste my time and money with BRICS.

You cannot really help those countries who are not willing to help themselves.

I suggest that China invest her time and money with Central Asian Republics, Russia and OBOR.

 

[Rahim Malik]

china makes it own eco-friendly food, then why going to Russia

 

[Daniel808]

The world is approaching what is often referred to as Doomsday. In other words, the World War 3.

China, Russia and Pakistan may have just formed an unofficial alliance to counter America’s global dominance. China, Russia, Pakistan and other authoritarian counties in Central Asia could join their forces to try and take away Washington’s dominance.

The U.S., meanwhile, is not twiddling its thumbs either. Washington has a number of allies in Asia, including Japan, all of whom are ready to jump into the fire and die for the Americans on the battlefield.

If that happens and China, Russia and Pakistan would go to war against the U.S., Japan, the European Union and their allies, one way or another, either side would put its nuclear weapons to work.

And given the fact that Russia, China and Pakistan have about 7,620 nuclear warheads combined, the United States would lose that nuclear war even before some guy in Pentagon would open his mouth to say, ‘Look, it’s a nuc…’


Bipolar nuclear world: China, Russia and Pakistan vs. U.S. and allies

There are a number of reasons why we’re coming toward a bipolar world with Russia, China and Pakistan on one side and the United States and its allies on the other side.

First, Russia has been actively strengthening its military ties with both China and Pakistan. In fact, Russia has just received a crucial support from China on the most important global issue of our time: Syria.

But what’s even more concerning is that Russia has been strengthening its diplomatic and military ties with Pakistan, its Cold War rival. Having both China and Pakistan on their side would get Russia a serious advantage in an imminent nuclear war against the U.S.

Second, China has been very supportive of not only Russia, but also Pakistan lately. In fact, Pakistan has always been China’s traditional ally and Beijing has always protected Islamabad against its historical rival, India.

Third, Beijing, Moscow and Islamabad see the need to form the China-Russia-Pakistan triangle, because it would finally allow them to put an end to U.S. global dominance.


Presidential Election makes U.S. Weak

And the U.S. is particularly weak right now, as the country is divided over its upcoming presidential election. The Donald Trump vs. Hillary Clinton polls clearly indicate that the country has never been so divided before, and it makes it look weak from the outside.

And since Russian President Vladimir Putin is known for his sophisticated plans to attack enemies at the most inopportune times for them, there is a high chance Russia would seek China’s military support to strike their mutual enemy.

A few weeks back, Russia sent a contingent of its soldiers to hold Pak-Russian military drills. The move was interpreted as Putin’s excuse to send his ground forces into Pakistan to protect his ally against India.

The drills came at a time when tensions between Pakistan and India reached its peak level following an attack on the Uri military camp in India-held Kashmir.


Nuclear-powered India with or against U.S.?

India, which has nuclear weapons on its own, is actually a crucial player in the imminent bipolar world. While India has previously slammed Russia for its ever-growing ties to Pakistan, it’s still not so quick to jump into the bed with the United States.

Earlier this year, India rejected an offer from the U.S. to join naval patrols in the South-China Sea alongside Japan and Australia. Patrolling the South-China Sea alongside Japan would mean the end of India’s diplomatic relations with China, the move that India is definitely not prepared to do.

Even though India has been criticizing Russia for its military cooperation with Pakistan, New Delhi has a number of joint military projects with Russia of its own.

So India is sort of torn apart between China-Russia and the United States. But Pakistan has surely already made up its mind which bed is cozier, and it went with China and Russia.

Pakistan: ‘U.S. is NOT superpower anymore’

Last week, Mushahid Hussain Syed, the Pakistani PM’s special envoy to Kashmir, threatened to break ties with Washington and officially cozy up to Russia and China, because America is “a declining world power.”

“[The] US is no longer a world power. It is a declining power. Forget about it,” Syed said, reiterating one of Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s diplomats’ recent comments, in which he said Pakistan would make a deal with China and Russia if the U.S. stays neutral on the Pak-India conflict in Kashmir.

Interestingly, China supplies Pakistan with more weapons than any other country in the world. But more importantly, Beijing is actively building nuclear reactors in Pakistan, which means China wants to strengthen its allies and prepare them for a possible war with the West.

When the U.S. and many other countries signed the NPT Treaty in 1996, neither India nor Pakistan signed it. And as tensions on the India-Pakistan border continue to grow every week, one of the sides could actually resort to nuclear weapons.

And it’s more likely that Pakistan would make its nuclear move first, because it knows it has the military support from China and Russia. In fact, Beijing has already pledged to help Pakistan in the case of any foreign aggression.


Can U.S. survive China’s alliance with Russia?

While the Russians haven’t made those pledges to Pakistan yet, it doesn’t take a Sherlock Holmes to predict that Russia would side with China in any international conflict.

China, Pakistan and India all possess ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and sea-based nuclear weapons, which means it would be interesting if India could side with China and its historical rival Pakistan after all.

India has no idea whether it can or cannot rely on receiving any sort of help from the U.S. And while the country is stronger than Pakistan in terms of its army power, Pakistan has more nuclear weaponry than India, which means A LOT in any global conflict.

And the thing is that the U.S. has no idea if India would side with them in an international conflict either. So if there will be a nuclear confrontation between the U.S. on one side, and the China-Russia-Pakistan triangle on the other side, there is a high probability that the U.S. would be the defeated side.


By Polina Tikhonova on October 13, 2016 10:24 am in Politics
@SheerazRaza has also contributed to this article.

http://www.valuewalk.com/2016/10/china-russia-pakistan-superpower/


Long Live Chinese-Pakistani-Russian brothership
@PaklovesTurkiye @Horus @BRICSFTW @DESERT FIGHTER and many others

 

[Qutb-ud-din Aybak]

shah naimat ullah wali also predicted this alliance. add iran to it too.

turkey may become its part later.

 

[TaiShang]

China, Russia Enhance Military Cooperation in Response to US Missile Threat

18.10.2016(updated 16:50 18.10.2016)

The expansion of Sino-Russian military cooperation to include joint missile defense exercises is an important landmark in bilateral relations, military expert Vasily Kashin told Sputnik.

Last week the 7th Xiangshan Security Forum was held in Beijing, organized by the Chinese Association of Military Sciences and the Chinese Institute for International Strategic Studies.

Speaking at the forum, Major-General Cai Jun of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (CPLA) announced that China and Russia will carry out their second joint missile defense military exercises next year. The plan follows the successful computerized joint exercise by the Russian and Chinese missile defense command in May this year.

The joint exercises are set to become Russia and China's third annual set of joint military exercises, in addition to the "Peace Mission" and "Naval Interaction" drills. Vasily Kashin, senior fellow at the Russian Academy of Science's Far Eastern Studies Institute, told Sputnik that May's computerized exercises were modeled on China's HQ-9 anti-aircraft missile systems, which can be used to shoot down short-range ballistic missiles and some types of medium-range missiles.
...

Read more: https://sputniknews.com/world/201610181046459591-china-russia-anti-missile/