If China and Russia don't actually believe Iran is a threat and they don't want a war, why do they honor the sanctions placed against Iran?
You guys think Russia and China will do right by Iran, so why are they being part of the problem?
Perhaps it still isn’t worth angering the yanks over a second-hand regional conflict. Especially not publicly.
according to Paul, if you suport sanctions, you pretty much support war. So, China and Russia seem contradicting on this.
The only thing I could figure is that its either out of pear fure of American military prowess, or theres some sort of deal for the politicians/military in China and Russia from the US to go along with it. At least they didn't go along with action on Syria, that gave some glimmer of hope. I wish Libya could've been spared NATO's onslaught as well.
They are playing along...until the whirlwind comes. Russia knows that any intense middle eastern or central asian conflict will benefit them. For the U.S. we are trying to build the Chinese to be the rival power for Russia in those events.
Read Brzezinski. like him or not he's the most astute geopolitical analyist currently with influence.
Contrary to popular opinion, China and Russia aren't all chummy with Iran.
Russia and Iran have an historical rivalry going back centuries, mostly revolving around interests in the Caspian region. Vladimir Putin had to threaten calling off an official visit if he was not granted a private audience with ayatollah Khamenei. That gives an idea of the relationships between the two countries which mostly revolves around Russia selling Iran technology other countries have embargoed (Russia has no need for oil or natural gas). This technology transfer is very selective, with the Kremlin weighing each and every request according not to financial benefits but to geopolitical considerations. And remember in Russia the Motherland always comes first.
China and Iran are a different case. During the first Gulf War (1980-1988) China became Iran's premier commercial partner, being willing to sell huge quantities of weapons to both sides, especially to Iran which had been embargoed by Western countries and had a difficult relationship with the Soviet Union. Chinese weapons were no match for the stockpiles of advanced American munitions Rezha Pahlavi had built up (and which proved murderously effective against the Iraqi) but they were dirt cheap, they were available in large quantities and were easily usable even by the poorly trained conscripts making up the bulk of both militaries. After the war reached its unconclusive end, China and Iran started to build up their commercial relationships. But even today, with China being Iran's premier partner in both the export and import sector, relationships between the two countries are uneasy. China has little experience in the region, being a very recent arrival, while Iranians are notoriously suspicious of foreigners (at political level: ordinary Iranians are among the most hospitable and friendliest peoples in the world and are literally starved for contacts with the "outside world", especially Westerners). When last year Sinopec moved in to take over oil and natural gas licenses from Total (after the French government ordered them to leave Iran or else) a series of minor political and diplomatic accidents followed: apparently the Chinese knew next to nothing about Iranian politics and culture, while the Iranians were deeply suspicious about Chinese intentions. It must also be remembered that, differently from what we are led to believe, China lacks experience in international politics. The country has always shun the outside world due to cultural bias and seems to lack a geopolitical vision, their only preoccupation being fueling domestic economic growth. They know nothing about how to bribe, cajole and threaten the UN or other international bodies (an art the US and Israel have perfected) nor how to deal with crisis such as this. Perhaps China wants to avoid a war in Iran to keep on trading but, so far, they don't know how to flex their muscles to intimidate Uncle Sam and the Rabid Dog.
Because the US gives them something in return.