State visits: Blinken in Kiev; Putin in Beijing

On this episode of Direct Impact, Rick Sanchez takes a look at two very different state visits occurring almost concurrently at different ends of the globe. First there was the visit of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Kiev, where he promised democracy would return to Ukraine (one day) and gave a bizarre rock and roll performance at a Kiev bar. He met a very different reception in Kiev than in China a few weeks ago, where officials hardly gave him the time of day. Meanwhile, just after his inauguration, Vladimir Putin is visiting Beijing to full pomp and ceremony. Correspondent Manila Chan joins Rick to talk about this, as well as the recent attempt on Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico’s life. Then guest KJ Noh, an East Asia expert, joins Rick to discuss the tightening relationship between Russia and China both economically and militarily.