On the mid/long term they want Taiwan back into the fold. And the US and oddly the EU seem to be ready to start a war over that. Which, like I’ve said we can’t win.

The US and Russia were inspecting each-other’s nuclear stockpiles and are/were part of several disarmament treaties which are falling apart one by one. Is there any credible authority claiming that the Russian nuclear arsenal does not fulfill its deterrent role?

Inspecting the stockpiles doesn't verify if the warheads are in operable state, does it?

No, only getting nuked with them does with 100% certainty.

And you really believe that a country that can’t even make ordinary cars is able to refurbish nuclear weapons?

Reminder: Russia is not USSR, it’s USSR’s retarded offspring. It’s only got a minor fraction of capabilities USSR had.

> They also quietly joined western sanctions.

Are you sure that you don't stretch and projecy a few international Chinese companies with substantial business in the West on the whole of China?

It's not just Huawei that left Russian market. The entire Belt and Road infrastructure project is being redirected south to Kazakhstan. And Putin had to publicly admit China has "expressed concerns".

To China, Russia is just a mafia-owned gas station. Nobody's going to fight for that.

> It's not just Huawei that left Russian market.

Wow, it did? Huawei brand shops are open though. You can even buy a RosTest certified Huawei P50 Pro, which was released in August.

In any case, this is just a fraction of Chinese business in Russia, the rest of which doesn't seem to go anywhere.

Currently this looks more like political fluff, rather than anything practical. Shutting down AliExpress in Russia would be indicative, but nothing even remotely similar had happened yet.

> To China, Russia is just a mafia-owned gas station. Nobody's going to fight for that.

Doesn't look that way when looking at Chinese propaganda, but in any case, why would China FIGHT for Russia?