China on Russia / Ukraine: as expected

Why is Germany playing silly-buggers over tanks for Ukraine?  If the answer is “no”, then say so.

Readers will know I have long maintained that Xi is the spectator with most interest in what transpires in Ukraine – and that he will have marked Putin’s card in no uncertain terms.

Owen Matthews in the Speccie seems to have it nailed.  This, from November (I missed it at the time) is a short, but great read - and may still have salience on the tanks issue.  After all, Biden isn’t exactly rushing forward with the Abrams, is he? 

 Beijing and Moscow pledged to come to each other’s aid militarily in the case of a foreign invasion of their territory and if special conditions were satisfied concerning the cause of such an invasion. That extremely canny and prescient proviso, inserted at Chinese insistence, would effectively exclude territories recently annexed during wartime, thus releasing Beijing from any commitment to respond to attacks on annexed territories in Ukraine.  

But everything points to a new Russian offensive in the offing.

ND