What Xi is learning from Putin's war - with Matt Pottinger
b'As Russia has become isolated globally, a senior Russian Foreign Ministry official was asked if Moscow has anyone left in its corner, anywhere in the world. Her response: \\u201cOf course, we have them. Look at the reaction of world giants. Those who do not pretend to be giants, but are real giants. For example, it is China. You can see this reaction, can\\u2019t you?\\u201d\\n\\n \\n\\nSo what exactly is going on between Xi Xingping and Vladamir Putin as tensions escalate between Russia and the West over Russia\\u2019s invasion of Ukraine?\\n\\n \\n\\nHow does this inform our thinking about whether we are, indeed, in a new Cold War -- and how we need to re-think our entire national security strategy, defense posture, and approach to global affairs?\\n\\n \\n\\nRussia\\u2019s experience in Ukraine \\u2013 and the West\\u2019s response \\u2013 is a laboratory for the Chinese Communist Party leadership to study as Beijing contemplates its next moves in this Cold War.\\n\\n \\n\\nTo help us understand how China is interpreting events, Matt Pottinger returns to the podcast. Matt lived in and covered China as a journalist for Reuters and then The Wall Street Journal. Then, in his early 30s, he joined the US Marine Corps, and had multiple combat deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan.\\n\\n \\n\\nLater on Matt played an instrumental role in the geopolitical story of our time: reshaping the West\\u2019s relationship with China, when he served as the deputy National Security Advisor in the Trump administration, and was the architect of the administration\\u2019s strategy towards China. \\n\\n \\n\\nToday, he is regularly called upon by policymakers on both sides of the aisle, to consult on US policy towards China.\\n\\n \\n\\nMatt has been closely watching the evolving Moscow-Beijing relationship. He\\u2019s also just returned from Israel, where he gained fresh insights on what role the final negotiations over a new Iran nuclear deal factor into all of this. We discuss a lot in this episode \\u2013 from Moscow and Beijing, to Tehran and Jerusalem, and even Caracas and Pyongyang, and how they are all tied together in Cold War II.'