Beijing and Moscow now hold a stronger hand in confronting the West than during the Cold War

Russian armored vehicles on the move not far from the border with Ukraine on Tuesday.YURI KOCHETKOV/SHUTTERSTOCK

ByMichael R. Gordon

Updated Feb. 23, 2022 11:19 pm ET

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Russia’s audaciousmilitary assault on Ukraineis the first major clash marking a new order in international politics, with three major powers jostling for position in ways that threaten America’s primacy.

The challenges are different than those the U.S. and its network of alliances faced in the Cold War. Russia and China have built a thriving partnership based in part on a shared interest in diminishing U.S. power. Unlike the Sino-Soviet bloc of the 1950s, Russia is a critical gas supplier to Europe, while China isn’t an impoverished, war-ravaged partner but the world’s manufacturing powerhouse with an expanding…