Sometimes it’s fun to see the Kremlin talking points for the week emerge surreptitiously from the office of Vladislav Surkov, and then spread out through the Russian then international media by a variety of mid- to high-level functionaries until they are finally reproduced by Western surrogates, practically word for word. In case you missed the memo, the narrative for this week is all about Moscow flirting with the idea of ditching the West altogether and substituting relations with Asia. The point is to make the EU think twice before delaying talks for the partnership agreement, because Russia might just decide the dependency is no longer mutual, and that they will send all their business and energy resources over to China. Never mind that it is an empty threat. For example, yesterday and today we see Putin hitting the press circuit boasting Russia’s economic ties with China and his desire to deepen them, Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi (a longtime Kremlin friend) warned that Europe should do nothing in response to Russia for fear of sending them into Asia’s arms, while at the same time Russia conspicuously decides to carry out “repairs” on the Yamal pipeline (cutting Europe’s gas as a reminder) and calls for “faster construction” of the terminally delayed East Siberia-Pacific Ocean (ESPO) pipeline to China. Is anybody listening yet?