Under present and probable future conditions, Russia will not ally with the United States against China on any substantial issue in any sphere. The wording of that sentence is carefully chosen, since the U.S.A., under any president, would be glad to have Russia’s support in the great competition of the mid-twenty-first century.

Russian-American relations are as poor today as at any time since the fall of the Soviet Union. Mired in prolonged conflicts over Ukraine, Syria, Venezuela, election interference, and energy, among other issues, Russia and the United States clash in their interests and their worldviews. Mutual distrust is intense, much more intense than one might infer from the occasional statements of former president Donald Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin.

Russia wants to contain China on her Asian border but not on the Pacific Ocean. In fact, it is in Russia’s interest to encourage a Chinese expansion in the Pacific as well as farther out, from Europe and the Middle East to Latin America.

To impeach the notion that governments act rationally to maximize their own advantages, one need only look at the U.S. and Russian governments’ reluctance to act concurrently, if not jointly, to contain the biggest geopolitical threat to both: China.