What is considered traditional usually comes from a particular group or culture, and is therefore being eroded at a fast pace in a liberal country like the U.S.  Individualism is paramount in a liberal country, and when the liberalism becomes egalitarianism, some groups must pay for others’ equality.

Russia is not a liberal country.  Most people who live there are Russian, not members of a multitude of ethnic groups from around the world with no shared traditions.  They share a history, a language, and a religion.  Russian conservatism is used against them by some American liberals, and so it is worth studying Russian conservatism.  This article is a good starting point:

The Varieties of Russian Conservatism

A lengthy article is out describing China’s economic and military rise.  More detail is here.  A summary follows:

In 1904, Halford Mackinder wrote “The Geographical Pivot of History”, where he stated that:

• Europe, Asia, and Africa form a unitary land mass with its strategic pivot area between the Persian Gulf and Yangtze River
• This land mass is 60% of earth’s land area
• Global power depends on control of the Eurasian landmass, not global sea lanes
• Who controls the pivot area controls the world

Historically,

• European sea power allowed for control over Asian and African land powers for four centuries
• Steam shipping and the Suez Canal gave sea power the advantage over land power
• Future railways, however, would give the advantage back to Eurasia
• From 1602 (the founding of the Dutch East India Company) and 1922 (Washington Disarmament Conference) the world’s powers competed to control Eurasia’s surrounding sea lanes
• By 1900, Great Britain had naval bases from the North Atlantic to the Mediterranean to the Suez Canal to India, Singapore, and Hong Kong
• The 19^th century saw the “Great Game” between Russia, which controlled the Eurasian heartland, and Great Britain, which controlled India and the sea lanes around Eurasia
• Great Britain had army forces in India’s Northwest Frontier, Arabia, and present day Iraq, which Mackinder called “the passage-land from Europe to the Indies” and the gateway to Eurasia’s hearland
• Pax Britannica, which began with the British defeat of Napoleon’s France in 1815, ended with a naval arms race and competition for empire which led to WW1 in 1914
• Influenced by Mackinder, Germany attempted to take control of the Eurasian heartland in 1942 by sending 1 million men to Stalingrad, losing 850 thousand
• The U.S. achieved its empire after WW2 by becoming the first country to control strategic points on both ends of Eurasia, in Japan and Western Europe
• The U.S. then attempted to encircle Eurasia by building an arc of military bases following Britain’s pattern of naval bases mentioned above
• The U.S. 6^th fleet in Naples controls the Atlantic and Mediterranean
• The 7^th fleet in the Philippines controls the Western Pacific
• The 5^th fleet in Bahrain controls the Persian Gulf
• The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the Middle East Treaty Organization, the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization, and the US-Japan Security Treaty were added as reinforcements around Eurasia
• By 1955, the US had 450 military bases in 36 countries, and by the end of the Cold War in 1990 the US had 700 overseas bases
• The US’s strategic fulcrum around Eurasia is the Persian Gulf
• Iraq’s occupation of Kuwait in 1990 was a pretext for US reestablishment of Persian Gulf dominance after losing Iran as a client state in 1979
• Post 9-11 US bases throughout Afghanistan and Iraq are renewed bid to control edge of Eurasia
• US now has 60 CIA and USAF drone bases surrounding Eurasia and is able to strike targets almost anywhere in Asia and Africa
• 99 Global Hawk drones monitor terrain and communications in the area

China’s Strategy

• China is attempting control of Eurasia from the inside, instead of using sea and air power as Britain did and the US does
• 2 step plan involves building infrastructure (high speed rail, highways, oil and gas pipelines, etc) to economically integrate Eurasia and using military to cut through US containment
• Economic zone 6,500 miles wide from Shanghai to Madrid is possible, shifting power from maritime periphery to Eurasian landmass
• China has built 9,000 miles of high speed rail, more than the rest of the world combined, carrying 2.5 million passengers daily at up to 240 mph
• Germany and Russia have joined with China to connect Eurasia from east to west, sending goods from Germany to China in 20 days, compared with 35 days by ship
• China signed agreement with Pakistan to build economic corridor
• Oil and gas pipelines connecting China with Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Myanmar, Pakistan, Iran, Russia and Europe integrate the energy infrastructure from the Atlantic to the South China Sea and bypass US control
• China created the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank as a competitor to the US-dominated World Bank – close US allies have joined
• China is building long-term trade relations with Africa, Australia, and Southeast Asia
• China has begun construction on a road, rail, and pipeline corridor connecting western China with the port of Gwadar, Pakistan
• Gwadar will allow for Chinese naval deployments in the Arabian Sea
• China is expanding naval operations in the South China Sea
• Arabian and South China Sea naval bases will allow China to break US military containment
• China is building its own global satellite system which will be the only competitor to the US