Although no Arab government – save Syria – has been outrightly supportive of Russia’s invasion, occupation and annexation of Ukrainian land, Arab statesmen do not believe their governments should burn bridges with Moscow because of this conflict. The graft ran deep. In Beijing, I remember going to a nightclub whose owner was reputed to have a ready supply of illicit drugs and attractive young women for those with enough money. His business partner was the public security bureau - the police. irannews.ru This is starkly different from Mao's idea of a multi-ethnic state where, in theory, different groups had more autonomy. Xi's father too had a reputation for conciliation and respect for China's ethnic minorities. His Chongqing model, however, was arguably the prototype for what Xi would soon unleash on the whole of China. “Most of the developing world in Asia and Africa, including the Middle East, has not viewed the Ukraine war as the kind of definitive, transformational moment in international relations that the West does,” Hussein Ibish, a senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, wrote this month. "The problem is that the villages are razed. There's no place to hide. If we don't have the air superiority, it's going to be difficult. We're running out of planes, three or four were shot down last week. They also reportedly inspired schools and universities in other parts of the country to encourage their own students to put together anti-cheating headwear.
