Talk Elections

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/russia-blocks-u-n-statement-condemning-north-korea-despite-chinese-support/ (http://www.cbsnews.com/news/russia-blocks-u-n-statement-condemning-north-korea-despite-chinese-support/)

It looks even more awful considering the resolution had Chinese support. I also fail to see why Putin thinks it is a good idea to defend a stalinist dystopia if he wishes to endear himself to right wingers across the western worls.

it can be Putin's answer to American strike on Syria

Vladimir Putin- once again, on the awful side of history.

Putin wishes to endear himself to despots and nationalists around the world, not necessarily right- or left-wingers.

To play devil's advocate, perhaps Putin was worried that the Trump Administration would use the resolution as Security Council authorization for US action against North Korea?

Kim could just grant Russia basing rights in North Korea just as the US has for South Korea. It would decrease the chance of a US strike and give his regime a powerful protector, while being yet another geopolitical coup for Putin.

We're overlooking a crucial aspect here: involvement in Ukraine and Syria, combined with sanctions, put a heavy toll on Russia. Its doubtful they can overextend themselves again.

Russia may seem to be scoring "geopolitical coup", but the longterm cost is catastrophic.

Because Putin and the alt-right are anti-American.  Kim is anti-American.  Putin finds Kim useful.  A war between the USA and North Korea would weaken the USA (so Putin thinks), and that is his ultimate goal.

Also all these sanctions are useless as long as China doesn't follow it

Haven't China just recently sent a transport of NK coal back?

Russia already struggles to stay relevant in the Pacific - maintaining any sort of serious presence in North Korea is out of the question, especially because it is literally a politically indefensible country, unlike many of the Middle Eastern and South American countries that are Russia-friendly.

Who knows. Formally yes, but in the same time we have seen chinese trucks at DPRK military parade - formally China can't sell it to Kim regime.

What if these trucks are from the Craigslist?

This is a good point. The Dandong border crossing is known for extremely lenient customs enforcement, and the Chinese are perfectly willing to engage in import/export trickery like when they bought the Varyag from Ukraine through a Macanese shell company under the cover of turning into a floating casino. They're clever - if they want to get around the sanctions while going through the motions for political purposes, they can, and they will.

The crazy thing is, North Korea is genuinely unpopular with Chinese civil society but hard liners in the government still have a lot of sway. There is some evidence the edifice has started to crack to where dissent is now allowed, but the government's position resists pressuring North Korea too hard. They still see a regime collapse as worse case.