Bing Dwen Dwen, the cuddly cartoon panda encased in ice that is the official mascot of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing, has done little to distract from China’s warm embrace of a much less huggable ursine beast: the Russian Bear. As athletes from around the world were donning their skis and skates, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin stole the limelight with a joint summit that pronounced their “no limits” partnership and stiffened their nascent alliance against the West, in the process affirming their mutual devotion to authoritarian rule. At the same ti…