Decoder: The West looks on as Putin pals with Xi Jinping

Decoder: The West looks on as Putin pals with Xi Jinping

The relationship between China and Russia seems to grow closer as the U.S. and China look at each other with hostile eyes. At what point does this become scary? Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, toasts with Chinese President Xi Jinping prior to the Conference...

Especially pertinent after Xi Jinping’s visit to Moscow last week, this article from correspondent Jane Macartney decodes the Russian-Chinese relationship — and its effects on the war in Ukraine and beyond. While China has stopped short of providing lethal material support to Moscow, its overall trade with Russia reached a record high in 2022. Help your students understand all the moving pieces of this geopolitical puzzle with this Decoder. 

Exercise: After reading the article, show students this political cartoon of Putin and Xi Jinping. Students should draw parallels between the article and the cartoon’s symbols, characters and captions. Prompting questions: Who are the characters in the cartoon? Why does Xi appear conflicted in the image? How does the image represent what Macartney described in her article? Explain to students that this cartoon was published in 2022. How has the Russian-Chinese relationship evolved since then, with Xi’s latest state visit to Moscow?

Could Ukraine war spread to space and endanger satellites?

Could Ukraine war spread to space and endanger satellites?

Despite conflicts on Earth, satellites orbit in peace. But use of Elon Musk’s Starlink to aid Ukraine has Russia looking to the sky with hostile eyes. A rocket booster carrying three Gonets-M satellites and the first Skif-D satellite of the Sfera programme lifts...

While all kinds of international conflicts occur on the ground, up in space things have been pretty peaceful. We depend on peace in the skies because such things as social media, multiplayer video games, Google classrooms and Zoom sessions rely on satellites bouncing signals across the earth. Correspondent Tira Shubart tells us why tensions on the ground in Ukraine could disturb the tacit and explicit agreements over satellites in the sky. 

Exercise: Let’s imagine that each student has been hired to draw up an international agreement to govern and protect satellites that need to cross the skies over international borders. What are the five most important considerations that would have to be included in this treaty? Some things to consider are: The citizens in every country want fast and reliable Internet; people want their privacy protected; and countries are concerned about the possible military use of satellites.

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