On a frigid day in Beijing last month as the Winter Olympics were set to open, China’s leader, Xi Jinping, celebrated a diplomatic triumph with a banquet for his honored guest, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. They had just finalized a statement declaring their vision of a new international order with Moscow and Beijing at its core, untethered from American power. Over dinner, according to China’s official readout, they discussed “major hot-spot issues of mutual concern.” The details remain secret, but their talks were a crucial moment in the…
Tag: Moscow (Russia)
Ukraine’s Russia Crisis Reveals the West’s False Sense of Energy Security
Russia’s belligerence against Ukraine is underscoring once again the inextricable link between national security and energy security. Today, Russia is flexing its energy dominance over a dependent Europe. But tomorrow, the danger may come from China and its control over the raw materials that are key to a clean energy future. The United States and its allies must ensure that doesn’t happen. In recent years America has been lulled into a false sense of energy independence. The shale revolution of the past decade has generated incredible supplies of vital natural…
With Valieva, Doping Concerns Extend to a New Generation of Olympians
The announcement that Kamila Valieva, the 15-year-old Russian figure skating star, had tested positive for a banned substance echoed another dark Olympic era. And it sent a chilling reminder that female athletes in certain sports have long been considered disposable in countries that support state-sponsored doping. From the late 1960s until the late 1980s, East Germany, a country of fewer than 17 million people, kept pace in the Olympic medal chase with the United States and the Soviet Union with systematic doping known by the bland euphemism “Supporting Means.” The…