Will China and Russia form an alliance? The question arises every time Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping get together, as they did in Moscow last week, and it mostly misses the point. By any reasonable historical standard, Russia and China already have an alliance dedicated to transforming global politics — even if Americans, blinded by their own experience, don’t yet see it as such.
Alliances are as old as international politics. In the 5th century BC, Athens arranged Greek city-states into the Delian League. In the 19th century, Otto von Bismarck forged overlapping, sometimes-secret ties with neighboring powers to safeguard Germany’s position in Central Europe. Since World War II, the US has anchored a global network of alliances to deter aggression and keep the peace.