At one point during the Nixon administration things got so bad between the two giants that, according to some sources, one even contemplated a preemptive nuclear strike against the other. No more.

Russian president Vladimir Putin's recent visit to China "set a new course for Sino-Russian relations after 50 years of sharp twists and turns" (The Guardian). There is broad agreement on many important issues, including a united front against the United States' proposed new missile-defense shield.

In fact, a renewed military alliance is being forged as confirmed by the news that Russia is readying cruise-missile ships for delivery to China. "The SS-N-22 is the most dangerous anti-ship missile in the Russian, and now the Chinese fleet," said Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, a California Republican (The Washington Times). He continued with the assessment that "our Navy admittedly has scant ability to defend against this 200-kiloton nuclear-capable weapon."

American officials are concerned about Russian arms deliveries as a part of China's military-modernization program. Russian technicians have been detected by American intelligence agencies assisting Chinese efforts to build land-attack cruise missiles similar to the U.S. Tomahawk.

Watch Russia and China, not only as individual nations, but together as a potentially powerful alliance. (Sources: The Guardian, The Times [London], The Washington Times.)