Key ideas from Sarah Paine

• Continental empires follow two rules: avoid two-front wars and prevent great power neighbors from emerging
• Russia repeatedly derailed China's rise from mid-19th to mid-20th century through strategic manipulation and territorial seizures
• Stalin's death in 1953 marked the end of strong Russian leadership and beginning of Sino-Soviet split
• China achieved nuclear weapons in 1964 to break free from Soviet bondage and reclaim stolen territory
• Putin is 'dumping all his ordnance on Ukraine, leaving Siberia wide open' to Chinese ambitions
• China has nine times Russia's population and GDP, with per capita incomes converging - 'not good news for Putin'
• Lake Baikal contains over 20% of world's surface freshwater that China 'now needs and covets'
• The question isn't whether the Sino-Russian romance will last, but 'when it's going to end'