One of them is a communist who apparently believes that history is on his side, and that his country will overcome the decadent West and dominate the world. The other is an angry revanchist who wants to reverse his nation’s collapse and defeat and make it great again. They are, at least for the moment, allies. Are Xi and Putin the Stalin and Hitler of the 21st century?
Not exactly. Putin doesn’t have the economic and military resources that Hitler did, and Xi’s form of communism is based on Chinese exceptionalism and state capitalism, not Marxist ideology, terror, and militarism. They don’t present the same kind of threat that Hitler and Stalin did. Still, the historical precedent suggests that making a deal with Putin to contain Xi would be a serious mistake.
Fortunately, Biden doesn’t carry an umbrella. Trump and DeSantis might, however.