Partially. Everyone's huddled around looking at the red button, that's true. But you know how in magic shows, everyone looking at something tends to be the plan of the magician all along? In this case, the economic restructuring taking place while everyone's busy looking at the button, will have far greater consequences - such that cannot be discussed openly, let alone in the media. We're talking a near-complete remapping of major resource supply lines, resulting in a significant shift of the international balance of power.

Just as an example, right before the Ukraine crisis began, Russia and China signed a massive gas supply deal valid for the next 30 years - enough to offset any economic sanctions imposed by the EU. The kicker is, the gas is paid in euros - meaning the EU would also have to avoid sabotaging the deal, or suffer a drop in currency value that rivals that of Venezuela, only with the added threat of dissolution as a result.

That way, along with a couple of other deals between Russia and China, they have made their economies independent of the west, making them power players to rival all of NATO combined. And this is something that gets the obligatory fleeting coverage, while everyone is looking at the button.

Partially. Everyone's huddled around looking at the red button, that's true. But you know how in magic shows, everyone looking at something tends to be the plan of the magician all along? In this case, the economic restructuring taking place while everyone's busy looking at the button, will have far greater consequences - such that cannot be discussed openly, let alone in the media. We're talking a near-complete remapping of major resource supply lines, resulting in a significant shift of the international balance of power.

Just as an example, right before the Ukraine crisis began, Russia and China signed a massive gas supply deal valid for the next 30 years - enough to offset any economic sanctions imposed by the EU. The kicker is, the gas is paid in euros - meaning the EU would also have to avoid sabotaging the deal, or suffer a drop in currency value that rivals that of Venezuela, only with the added threat of dissolution as a result.

That way, along with a couple of other deals between Russia and China, they have made their economies independent of the west, making them power players to rival all of NATO combined. And this is something that gets the obligatory fleeting coverage (and only in the now-blocked Russian media, of course), while everyone is looking at the button.