Amid the news of Hezbollah pagers and walkie-talkies exploding, a Sky.News.com report yesterday (https://news.sky.com/story/ukraine-russia-war-germany-warns-moldova-next-in-line-if-ukraine-falls-zelenskyy-says-victory-plan-is-90-ready-12541713) included a most interesting snippet.

Background first: Vladimir Putin issued an order to expand the Russian army to 1.5 million souls (my word choice not Putin’s).  Only the Communist Party of China’s (CPC) military would have more active-duty military personnel.

Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesman, included a fascinating fragment when he said,

“This is due to the number of threats that exist to our country along the perimeter of our borders.  It is caused by the extremely hostile environment on our western borders and instability on our eastern borders (emphasis added).”

Besides China, to Russia’s east lie Mongolia, North Korea and former Soviet Republics with rich resources (natural and nuclear) that the CPC covets or fears for food, energy and national security.

Peskov’s slip may support observations that the Putin-Xi friendship may have found boundaries in its no limits friendship.  Putin has weakened Russia and knows Xi Jinping’s rapaciousness well.

US diplomats should probe possibilities and appearances of tensions in the Putin-Xi relationship persistently and promptly.  Exploiting those tensions effectively can attenuate both Putin and Xi’s totalitarian regimes’ capabilities to disrupt and destroy the lives and livelihoods of souls around the world.