Russia’s Turn to the East and the New Geopolitical World — Timofei Bordachev

This week, Vladivostok, Russia is hosting the 5th Eastern Economic Forum (EEF), an event which is the largest of its kind in terms of attendance, which will attract Russia’s top politicians and their Asian counterparts. This year, the forum will be attended by the heads of state and government of India, Malaysia, Mongolia and Japan, who will participate in a panel discussion alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin. The forum is unique in that it is a product of the new Russia, rather than the legacy of Russia’s experience attempting to foster international cooperation during the 1990s, like St. Petersburg’s International Economic Forum. It was created from scratch precisely as an instrument to accelerate openness and integrate Russia into the economic, political and civilizational space of Asia, the world's most densely populated region, where Russia is an important player due to its vast possessions in the Pacific Ocean.

Going where the people are and the emerging market is located.

Valdai Analytics
Russia’s Turn to the East and the New Geopolitical World
Timofei Bordachev

China Could Overwhelm US Military In Asia In Hours — Brad Lendon

Arms race watch. It's on.

CNN
China Could Overwhelm US Military In Asia In Hours

Brad Lendon

Debunking the Indo-Pacific Myth — Pepe Escobar

The "Indo-Pacific" region is part of the rimland around China from the south and east that the US needs to control from the sea to "contain" (surround) China. The worst case scenrio for the US would be a strategic alliance of Russia, China, and India. The strategic alliance between Russia and China already exists and they are wooing India.

Strategic Culture Foundation
Debunking the Indo-Pacific Myth

Pepe Escobar

Pepe Escobar — The New Great Game moves from Asia-Pacific to Indo-Pacific

In the context of the New Great Game in Eurasia, the New Silk Roads, known as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), integrates all of China’s instruments of national power – political, economic, diplomatic, financial, intellectual and cultural – to shape the 21stcentury geopolitical/geoeconomic order. BRI is the organizing concept of China’s foreign policy for the foreseeable future; the heart of what was conceptualized, even before President Xi Jinping, as China’s “peaceful rise.”

The Trump administration’s reaction to the breath and scope of BRI has been somewhat minimalistic. For the moment, it amounts to a terminological switch from what was previously known as Asia-Pacific to “Indo-Pacific.” The Obama administration, up to the former president’s last visit to Asia in September 2016, always referred to Asia-Pacific.

Indo-Pacific includes South Asia and the Indian Ocean. So, from an American point of view, that does imply elevating India to the status of a rising global superpower able to “contain” China....

Asia Times
The New Great Game moves from Asia-Pacific to Indo-Pacific
Pepe Escobar