Russia and China are vying for the Moon, should other countries be concerned?

No one can own the moon.

The Outer Space Treaty provides the basic framework on international space law, including the following principles:
•the exploration and use of outer space shall be carried out for the benefit and in the interests of all countries and shall be the province of all mankind;
•outer space shall be free for exploration and use by all States;
•outer space is not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means;
•States shall not place nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction in orbit or on celestial bodies or station them in outer space in any other manner;
•the Moon and other celestial bodies shall be used exclusively for peaceful purposes;
•astronauts shall be regarded as the envoys of mankind;
•States shall be responsible for national space activities whether carried out by governmental or non-governmental entities;
•States shall be liable for damage caused by their space objects; and
•States shall avoid harmful contamination of space and celestial bodies.

source

More to the point, where does Russia get the billions and billions of dollars to do space exploration and colonization, and where does China get their expertise?

This is blowhardiness on their parts.

That said, I think that it is terribly naive to think that either of those two countries will have any intention of following the Outer Space Treaty. International treaties have consistently been ignored by both Russia and China for decades.

I hope they start to get things done, we sure are not.

Your opening premise/thesis statement is wrong. The moon is a hot commodity of great importance. The moon is not a hot commodity, it might have recoverable resources that have not been shown to be cost effective.

China is already leaps and bounds ahead of us in the mining and control of the rare earth elements so vital to every aspect of our current (and future) technology.

Apparently USA used to be a leader in this area but was asleep at the switch and ended up ceding it to China simply by default.

It’s estimated that it will take us at least 20 years to catch up.

Lesley Stahl recently did a report on this for 60 Minutes just a few months ago. If interested, I’m pretty sure you can find the video on their website or YouTube.

I have no idea how much the moon would be another source of these elements, but I’m sure that if either Russia or China set up a mining operation for these on the moon, they’re not going to be eager to share.

The moon is more of a ‘hot potato’ as far as playing a significant role in future space exploration as I know at least the US has eyes on the moon as a jumping off point for future exploration of Mars. Yes without question the Moon has strategic value for a countries future missile defense but I don’t see that any country would spend a few hundred billion to build a viable defense system on the moon since we already have enough nukes on all sides to annihilate each other a hundred times over and a Star Wars type defense on the moon IMO will not tip the scales enough to serve as an additional advantage or deterrent.

You also have to consider who has the money to do the type of exploration you refer to. We mothballed NASA’s moon program because it was a money pit with little redeeming research payback. Russia is now fighting wars domestically and now in Syria and as a country that is in fiscal chaos….Russia is ill suited to dump money into a moon program. China is cash rich but it’s economy is facing an economic slowdown but that should not get in the way of China going forward with moon exploration.

The real opportunities for exploration of the moon will be of commercial interests that could easily be funded by private enterprise. Google is leading the charge with an international competition of a race to the moon theme called the Google Lunar X-Prize You can bet if Google is getting involved there is great commercial opportunity to make billions in space exploration and travel.

What @Seek, @elbanditoroso, @zenvelo and @Cruiser said is pretty much spot on. The only possible value the Moon could have in the future is maybe potential space tourism (“Get your picture taken on the Moon! New discount price of only $24,999.99!”).

It’s a place to test exploration technology close to home and not years away. It’s a stepping stone and whoever controls it will basically own manned space missions on other planets. If we can get to where we don’t need a biosphere and can live safely using off planet resources and our technology then it’s on with the buck rogers swagger.

There’s no need to worry about any nation being intent on dominating the moon as long as trips to the place are dependent on chemical rockets. The economics against it are so severe that we shouldn’t need to be concerned for decades.