China and Russia are at the forefront of a movement against freedom that stretches from Iran to North Korea. Many still believe that Putin and Xi Jinping are not comparable. However, they follow a common tradition that began with the October Revolution of 1917. Longtime correspondents in Beijing and Moscow, Adrian Geiges tells the compelling story of Chinese-Soviet and Chinese-Russian relations, which shape the world today more than ever. He also examines which "useful idiots" this alliance can rely on in the West. This book is not against Chinese or Russians; it is against naivety. Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Putin, and Xi Jinping have never concealed their dictatorial politics and global ambitions. The rulers in the intervening times, such as Brezhnev and Deng Xiaoping, expressed themselves somewhat more cautiously, without losing sight of the larger goal. Many myths circulate about the Chinese-Russian relationship. The current alliance is said to be purely tactical, not a love marriage. Yet the new Eastern bloc, if one wants to geographically categorize it, has deep ideological roots and a long shared history that I wish to recount here. Adrian Geiges.