authoritarian axis

The opening of the 2022 Winter Olympics this Friday in Beijing makes sense of the meeting between the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and the Chinese, Xi Jinping.

The Games begin in the midst of the Ukraine crisis and under the diplomatic boycott of the United States, Canada or Australia, in addition to the presence of a carousel of rulers, including the Egyptian dictator Abdelfatá al Sisi, the Saudi prince Mohamed Bin Salmán and especially Vladimir Putin, something like the world cream of authoritarianism.

China has already expressed solidarity with Russia's concerns regarding its security, threatened according to the Kremlin by NATO and by Ukrainian aspirations to maintain its sovereignty and democracy.

Although China does not recognize the annexation of Crimea and intends to maintain good relations, especially economic relations, with Ukraine, both superpowers are interested in effective coordination, especially military, with NATO and the European Union.

In the event of severe Western economic sanctions, it is in Russia's interest to count on Chinese solidarity to circumvent them.

For Beijing, the current open private cold war between Washington and Moscow is a test regarding its margins of action on the island of Taiwan.

It also constitutes a first experiment by its Russian neighbor on the functioning of a globalized economy with dual circulation, a theory with which China intends to shield strategic production and supply chains and keep those that do not affect the sovereignty of countries open. .

And, above all, it is a supervening complication for Washington in its attempt to concentrate on the confrontation with Beijing.

By an irony of history, the current Russian president has recovered both the nationalist and imperial spirit of that Stalin admired by Mao as well as the friendship with a Chinese president who is united by the same hostility to human rights, individual freedoms and democracy. .

Putin's trip does not respond only to circumstantial reasons.

These Games are intended to be the showcase in which the alleged superiority of authoritarian systems over open societies is exhibited.

Putin could not miss.