News Analysis There is a growing belief among some Western analysts that increasingly closer relations between Beijing and Moscow—driven by economics or great-power politics—could eventually blossom into a military alliance. Most, however, are more doubtful that the countries will be able to build, in Joseph Nye’s words, “a serious partnership to challenge the West.” Alliances are based on mutual utility: each partner must be demonstrably useful to the other. And, frankly, Russia offers little advantage to China. In the first place, Russia is barely a great power, let alone a superpower. The most generous economic data give the country a GDP of around US$4.3 trillion, putting it behind India and Germany, and barely ahead of Indonesia and Brazil. Its biggest industries are extractive, mainly oil, natural gas, and mining. Aside from such commodities and armaments, Russia exports very little. More importantly (to the West, at least), Russia’s military is a …