Here is a very important article that was sent to me by Mr. G.B., indicating the newest developments in Russo-Chinese cooperation within the BRICSA bloc. And this one deserves some careful attention:

Russia may join forces with China to compete with US, European satnavs

First, you'll note that the Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitri Rogozin has made the geopolitical context for the technological collaboration very clear:

The range of prospects was outlined on Friday by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who met Chinese Vice-Premier Wang Yang in Siberian Novosibirsk. Rogozin said Russia would develop cooperation with BRICS members in defiance of any possible Western sanctions. “Our technological partnership should be directed at the countries that are close to us in mentality and which in general constitute an emerging geopolitical force that we could rely on in opposing the monopolar world. Those are BRICS countries first and foremost,” he said. (Emphasis in the original)

Within this context, the article goes on to mention the following area of collaboration for which memoranda have already been inked and an additional one:

"Rogozin set examples of several joint projects Russia has or may have with China. The most concrete is the project for a new long-range wide-hull airliner with an estimated development cost of $7-8 billion. Russia and China have already signed a memorandum on it in May. "Another aviation project the countries may pursuit is the modernization of Mil Mi-26 heavy transport helicopter. The aircraft design would be altered for smaller weight, but without compromising its capacity too much. The new helicopter would be able to carry up to 15 tons of cargo as opposed to 20 tons of the original"

Then, if these two projects work out, there's two more possibilities that are in the cards according to RT:

"If both pilot projects do well, Russia and China may form a permanent cooperation consortium similar to Europe’s Airbus, Rogozin said. "China and Russia may also find synergy in space by making their respective satellite navigation systems, Glonass and Beidou, more compatible, the Russian official said"

And of course, there was the parting shot at Washington regarding US refusal to allow Russia to base some of its Glonass stations on American soil:

He also commented on Russia’s downgrade of the work of ground stations of the Differential GPS network based in the Russian territory. This week’s move was Moscow’s response to Washington’s failure to allow deployment of similar Glonass stations in America. “When we have 11 American GPS stations operating in Russia since early 1990s, we are entitled to expect a right to deploy similar Glonass stations in the US,” Rogozin said. “But here we faced an obvious trend to politicize the issue. There were some statements that the Russian stations would act as some sort of spies.” (Emphasis in the original)

Look closely at what we have, for what is being suggested might be a carefully outlined plan:

Bi-lateral Russo-Chinese collaboration in the development of a jumbo-jet, presumably as a competitor to Boeing's and Airbus' entries: in other words, a direct BRICSA challenge to western domination of the civil aeronautics industry might be in the cards. If the Russians and Chinese can produce a good product that is cheaper, this could be a boon to international air carriers; Bi-lateral Russo-Chinese collaboration on military hardware that, while not a weapons system per se, could be envisioned, and I strongly suspect is being envisioned by Beijing and Moscow as a test bed for expanded collaboration on other military hardware; The mention of Airbus suggests a wider long-term collaboration in civil aeronautics might be envisioned to incorporate the other major BRICSA nations, as Airbus is an international European consortium, consisting of areospace firms from France, Britain, Germany, and Spain, much like the consortium that was designed to produce Europe's "Tornado" fighter in the last decades of the 20th century. In other words, if the Russo-Chinese collabroation is successful, the RT article is hinting that this could be expanded to include the other two major players in the current BRICSA line-up: Brazil and India (and do not forget, Argentine has signaled it wants to join) Russia and China are clearly now talking about combining efforts to intergrate their current GPS systems, and this combined with the suggestions of an "Airbus" project suggests that India and Brazil might eventually be included. We could, in other words, be looking at two things hereL (a) eventual joint military exercises involving the militaries of the BRICSA bloc, coordinated by such a system, and a potent demonstration and message to the USA-led Western bloc, and (b) the first steps toward a rival space-based system of international financial clearing, as I've been arguing the BRICSA bloc, if it is to be an effective counterpoise to "unipolarism", must be an inevitable component of BRICSA planning.

Now note finally the barb at the USA about Russia's glonass GPS stations. As I've said before, "covert ops" is a game two people can play. North America is a big place. Can you say, Canada and Mexico and secret agreements?

See you on the flip side...