Commentary With great fanfare, China and Russia announced on Feb. 4 a new strategic partnership, as explained in their Joint Statement of the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China on the International Relations Entering a New Era and the Global Sustainable Development—an English version of which was posted on the Kremlin’s official website. While this new agreement may not have shocked the world as much as the Molotov–Ribbentrop (Hitler-Stalin) pact of 1939 did, this budding partnership should be sending danger signals to capitals around the world, particularly in Europe, Asia, and the United States. Both China and Russia are not afraid to use military threats and coercion to achieve their political ends. A couple of key passages, in particular, from that joint declaration clearly identify for all the world to see the two crises through which the world must navigate safely to obtain the multilateral “peace, development and …