include close high level exchanges and spoupporting each other in sovereignty and interests. it s vital to look at how both countries look at ukraine and even taiwan right now. the two also not so subtly referring to the u.s. and vowing to respond to external clearance and security threats jointly. china and russia not only signaling this closeness and defiance of the west. this is also and perhaps more importantly, a message to nations and democracies that rely on the united states for global peace and stability. china and russia here asking those countries, can you really trust the u.s.? and suggesting they reconsider their loyalty to the west, wolf. that s really important. very significant. and nic, putin is among just a relatively small number of world leaders to actually go to beijing to attend the loolympic games. what benefit does putin get out of this meeting? he really got on the big global stage. he got a boost from standing