THE LONG VIEW

Stalin didn’t “help” Mao—he scripted China into bleeding itself dry. From 1858 to 1945 Russia sliced off territory bigger than everything east of the Mississippi, looted 83 % of Manchuria’s power grid, and asked Washington for the OK to nuke Beijing over a river island. The “unbreakable” bromance is a hostage situation: Putin burns Siberian resources while Xi buys them at fire-sale prices. When the West stops bankrolling Moscow, the next border war starts.