[gaiagraphia]

I'm guessing any plan would just be rail, maybe with drive in trains like the Channel Tunnel.

Unlocking rail freight routes between China and the USA surely would be huge. It'd probably massively speed up resource extraction in the Far East of Russia, too.

As for invasion, it'd probably help boost America's presence in Northeast Asia substantially. China creeping northwards has been mentioned a few times recently...

[stevenalowe]

Cargo yes, that would make sense - in peacetime with rational allies

We have and are none of these at present

[gaiagraphia]

Everything about the US' actions at the moment screams pivoting to counter China this century, and it's quite convenient that all the 'bold moves' can be blamed on Trump.

I think the US realises that having working relations with Russia would be massively beneficial in denying China resources.

The US also knows Russia is in a very weak state right now, and the war can be leveraged to achieve some cheap deals. There were already talks about the US and Rusisa splitting up the Donbas resources as part of a deal, it's not crazy to think that such a deal could expand to exploiting the huge amounts of resources up in the Far East of Russia.

It's fashionable to think that everything about the US is irrational with orange man bad being owned by big bad russia, but more realistically, every piece of geopolitical news I see coming out of the USA points to a massive strategical pivot. Greenland = armed, EU militaries = boomtown, Saudi and Israel = making deals, Canada = militarising, etc. The US has no doubt realised it was spread too thin in a world where adversaries are developing quickly, and that its allies were asleep at the wheel.

[stevenalowe]

“There were already talks about the US and Rusisa splitting up the Donbas resources as part of a deal”

The USA is not, nor should it be, an Imperialist conquerer, nor should we collaborate with one.

“Bold moves” my ass

[gaiagraphia]

It'd be quite difficult to operate if the government departments of the US didn't collaborate!

The US, Russia, China, etc, are all imperial powers trying to maximise access to resources to help keep their oligarch class in check, which helps keep the middle classes in blissful ignorance, which helps keep the underclasses from rising up.

It's a dynamic as old as the hills, and territory which comes with owning most of the world's key infrastructure, various g-men strategically scattered across the world and collecting a tithe on big chunks of the world's purchases.

There was a time when it would've been thought as unfeasible to ever work with Japan, where Germany was the height of all evil, when the French were mortal enemies, etc. Times change, and it's useful to keep an open mind.

I personally have always been fascinated by the sheer emptiness of that part of the world, and have always wanted to motorcycle to Magadan. I loved watching Dersu Usala (Kurosawa's Soviet movie), and think that part of the world is like a final frontier, especially if the world's climate keeps on changing.