Russia-China Relationship: Third Voices

choi

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, other than Voice of America (VOA) and Russia news media filtered through VOA).

(1) Liam Denning, Gazprom Chases China Pipe Dream. Wall Street Journal, June 21, 2011 (in the column Heard on the Street)
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304070104576397893650631056.html
("Nearer-term, however, it would have to divert gas from west to east, losing profits along the way")

My comment:
(a) The quotation confirms Gazprom presently has no mechanism to shift gas to China (ie lack of both operating gas fields and pipelines).
(b) scope (n): "extent of treatment, activity, or influence"
www.m-w.com


(2) Pepe Escobar, Beijing and Moscow Beyond the SCO Summit; China and Russia struggle for influence over Central Asian economies, but see eye-to-eye on other geopolitical issues. Al Jazeera, June 20, 2011 (opinion).
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/06/2011620115216348413.html

Quote:

"For many critical minds in Moscow, uneasy because Russia seems to be unable to diversify its economy, the SCO is now fundamentally Chinese. They have a point. Although bilateral trade is booming, for the collective leadership in Beijing Moscow is seen as little else than a giant energy/commodities provider for the dragon; Moscow for its part badly wants/needs high-tech Chinese investment in its battered industrial sector. Russia and China have a bilateral strategic programme through 2018. It basically involves development/production of oil, gas and minerals in Russia - Siberia and the Far East - and processing in China.

"What Pipelineistan obscures is the very sensitive theme of who will be top economic dog in Central Asia. You don't need to be a weatherman to see which way these steppe winds are blowing. How to find a balance between Russia's strategic game in Central Asia and China's economic voracity?

Note:
(a) The Spanish surname Escobar means
broom (shrub)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broom_(shrub)
(Most of the species have yellow flowers)
(b) Al Jazeera
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Jazeera
(Arab for "The Island"; owned by the state of Qatar; headquartered in Doha, Qatar; since 1996)
(c) WU Hongwei 中国社会科学院俄罗斯东欧中亚研究所中亚研究室 吴宏伟 研究员
(d) Eastern Siberia-Pacific Ocean (ESPO)--built, owned and operated by Transnet--starts at Taishet in Russia.

Pipeline begins supplying oil from Russia to China. AFP, Jan 1, 2011.
http://latestchina.com/article/?rid=26651

Please click the graphic to see the entire graphic.

(e) Mohe County (黑龙江省大兴安岭地区) 漠河县
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohe_County
(the northernmost county in China; The county is named after the Mohe, a Tungusic people of ancient Manchuria)
(f) Eurasian Development Bank
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasian_Development_Bank
(an international financial organization founded by Russia and Kazakhstan in 2006)
(g) the cherry on the cake: "the final thing that makes something perfect  <The fabulous weather on the day was the cherry on the cake.>"
Cherry. MacMillan Dictionary, undated.
http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/cherry

It is similar to another idiom "icing on the cake."
(h) The report mentions "Rosebud in this 'Citizen Eurasia.'"

Citizen Kane
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizen_Kane
(1941 American film)

Quote:

"Charles Foster Kane ([played by] Orson Welles), an enormously wealthy media proprietor, has been living alone in Florida in his vast palatial estate Xanadu for the last years of his life, with a 'No trespassing' sign on the gate. He dies in a bed while holding a snow globe and utters 'Rosebud...'; the globe slips from his lifeless hand and smashes.

"Newsreel reporter Jerry Thompson (William Alland) tries to find out about Kane's private life and, in particular, to discover the meaning behind his last word. * * * Thompson finds that he is unable to solve the mystery and concludes that 'Rosebud' will forever remain an enigma. He theorizes that 'Mr. Kane was a man who got everything he wanted, and then lost it. Maybe Rosebud was something he couldn't get, or something he lost.' In the ending of the film, it is revealed to the audience that Rosebud was the name of the sled from Kane's childhood—an allusion to the only time in his life when he was truly happy. The sled, thought to be junk, is burned and destroyed by Xanadu's departing staff in a basement furnace.

My comment: From the context of Mr Escobar's commentary, it appears that Rosebud means a mystery--and a conundrum or a quagmire by extention.

* conundrum (n; origin unknown):
"1: a riddle whose answer is or involves a pun
2b : an intricate and difficult problem"
www.m-w.com

Usually in written texts, definition 2b is what is meant.

(i) Hindu Kush
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu_Kush
(section 1 Name)

In the map 2, Hindu Kush is the moutain range you see (almost) within Afghanistan)
(j) The commentary "paraphras[es] Pink Floyd, we don't need no intervention, we don't need no thought control."

Pink Floyd
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink_Floyd
(an English rock band; Years active 1965 (1965)–1996, 2005; a 1978 work titled "Brick in the Wall")

Another Brick in the Wall was released 1979, whose Part II lyrics are as follows.
http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/pinkfloyd/anotherbrickinthewallpartii.html
("We don't need no education  We don't need no thought control")



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