re: #29 Dr Lizardo

Russia is far too dependent on its natural resources. Much has been made of Russia and China doing a natural gas deal; that’s nice. The infrastructure for it doesn’t exist yet, and it will take a while to build. And I’m pretty sure the Chinese might be willing to lend money to Russia, but at conditions that would make your average loan shark look like the Pope.

The Chinese government ain’t stupid, and my understanding is that Putin got taken to the cleaners on the gas deal since he needed the deal right then a lot worse than the Chinese did. If the Chinese turn out to be the only real game in town for Russian trade, expect Putin to have a real sore ass after every Beijing trip until someone encourages him to leave office.