[I would like to thank my colleague David Sandel for bringing this forward. David and I were lead authors for “Smart Economy in Smart Cities”, a Springer publication, which included analysis of Ottawa and St. Louis.]
China’s social media hashtag “Putin accuses Wagner’s head of treason” hit 2.37 billion views overnight.
Chinese netizens were tuning in to a shocking event rarely displayed in their social channels — a Russia that was quaking to its political foundations, beset by internal violence.
China now perceives that Russia is unlikely to prevail against Ukraine; Russia will emerge from the conflict a much diminished power.
Combined with this loss of comfort in the former image of Russia as a bulwark against a hostile America, the Chinese have been further shaken by recent American strides in Asia.
As a baseline, China is a vulnerable country: it has a much smaller economy than we once thought; its cities are desperate and are hard-pressed to stay functioning; its demographics are running dry; and its population is currently getting restive.