HARI SREENIVASAN, PBS NEWSHOUR WEEKEND ANCHOR:

As we mentioned, the Chinese leader was in Moscow today as Russia paraded its military hardware through Red Square. Just yesterday, the two countries signed 32 agreements, including what's being described as a nonaggression pact in cyberspace. All this, at a time of severely strained relations between Russia and the West.

Are we going back to the future, with Russia and China lined up against the West?

For more, we are joined now from Berkeley, California, by Orville Schell. He's the director of the Center on U.S. -China Relations at the Asia Society.

So, Orville, what is the strategic advantage for the alignment of Russia and China again?