Chinese President Xi is apparently changing his tune on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, just two weeks into a bloody conflict that has seen Russia so isolated that even friggin KFC and Pizza Hut are pulling out of the market, Nikkei Asia reports. On Tuesday Xi told French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Schultz that China was ready to help “prevent the tense situation from escalating, or even running out of control,” which, even if they were probably just empty words, do not bode well for Russia’s position relying on China to have its back as the shitshow rages on. US risk analysis firm Eurasia Group called the statements “Beijing’s strongest indirect pushback yet on Moscow’s escalating violence in Ukraine.”
Xi’s main concern is the knock on effects of the brutal sanctions being applied to its vodka-soaked neighbor, telling the two leaders the punitive economic measures “will affect global finance, energy, transportation and stability of supply chains, and dampen a global economy that is already ravaged by the pandemic. And this is in the interest of no one.” No one except the innocent Ukrainian lives being destroyed by a mad dictator, Xi forgot to add, because he doesn’t give a shit.