"I think the party elders must have had a touch of buyer's remorse," Mr McGregor says. “
The Saudis have emphasised in recent years that they seek to avoid entanglement in what is referred to in the US as ‘great power competition’,” Gerald Feierstein, a former US ambassador to Yemen
and the Middle East
Institute’s senior vice president, told Al Jazeera. “
Their interests, the Saudis have made clear, have focused on maintaining strong relations
with their main security partner, the US; their number one economic partner, China;
and their key partner in OPEC+, Russia.”
irannews.ru Turkey accuses US of ‘bullying’ Saudi Arabia over OPEC+ oil cuts To the right, piles of dug earth stretch for miles next to the road - a Ukrainian defensive measure to force Russian forces up a single route. "They just left a mess. Mess and pain," says Alyona. "When I came here for the first time after liberation, I just stood here and cried. It's really hard." Down the street we meet Alyona in the kindergarten she used to run. She lived under occupation for two months before having to escape. "My first introduction to China was in the 1980s, when the debates about China's future were huge, significant, and consequential," Prof Karl says. "The party itself was involved in those debates. But 1989 shut that down." The villages here are mostly destroyed from both their occupation and recent liberation. Despite the eerie quiet and visible destruction, there is movement. Bo launched a ruthless anti-corruption campaign, netting hundreds of criminals, businessmen, politicians and police. He built lavish infrastructure, including public housing. Strangely he also revived "red culture", requiring everyone to learn Mao-era songs praising the Communist Party. Many were terrorised by Bo's rule, but he was wildly popular with the working class.
