The United States is a nation in crisis. While Washington's ability to
address our most pressing challenges has been rendered nearly impotent
by ongoing partisan warfare, we face an array of foreign-policy crises
for which we seem increasingly unprepared. Among these, none is more
formidable than the unprecedented partnership developing between Russia
and China, suspicious neighbors for centuries and fellow Communist
antagonists during the Cold War. The two longtime foes have drawn
increasingly close together because of a confluence of geostrategic,
political, and economic interests--all of which have a common theme of
diminishing, subverting, or displacing American power. While America's
influence around the world recedes--in its military and diplomatic
power, in its political leverage, in its economic might, and, perhaps
most dangerously, in the power and appeal of its ideas--Russia and China
have seen their influence increase. From their support for rogue regimes
such as those in Iran, North Korea, and Syria to their military and
nuclear buildups to their aggressive use of cyber warfare and
intelligence theft, Moscow and Beijing are playing the game for keeps.
Meanwhile America, pledged to "leading from behind," no longer does much
leading at all. In Return to Winter, Douglas E. Schoen and Melik
Kaylan systematically chronicle the growing threat from the
Russian-Chinese Axis, and they argue that only a rebirth of American
global leadership can counter the corrosive impact of this
antidemocratic alliance, which may soon threaten the peace and security
of the world.
