Could Russia Actually Lose Siberia? - Paul Warburg

[Beastly Boy]

1. Russia is already losing Siberia. Not territorially, but economically.

Sparse in population, especially ethnically Russian population, local governments installed by Moscow find little support from the locals to tug the Moscow line, and are increasingly dependent on the labor of the illegal immigrants from China who settle in the Far East in increasing numbers and have more in common with local ethnic groups that with the Russians. In terms of the markets for goods and services, Russia's Far East is already China's, and not Russia's, virtual economic sphere of influence, and local Russian officials cannot ignore this inevitable development.

Territorially, as Walburg shows, China has historical claims to much of Russia's Far East, if not all of Siberia, but with China's continuing expansion, with the tacit approval of local Russian officials, of its dominant role there, who needs military or diplomatic intervention to change border lines?