evidence: For Putin, Russia’s "rising from its knees" became a key propaganda trope. He declared Russia not merely a country or a state but a state-civilization and a "unique" one at that. Touting its 1,000-year history, he said that Russia was to become again a proud and sovereign nation and one of the "foundations" of the global international system. A mighty Eurasian and Euro-Pacific power, distinct from both Europe and the West, Putin’s Russia embodied a "cultural and civilizational community," the "Russian world," which he vowed to "strengthen and develop." [...] Both Xi and Putin have been frank about the scope of the danger. Putin has compared the peril posed by Ukraine to the 1941 Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union. To Xi, an independent Taiwan is "a grave lurking threat" to the centerpiece of his self-imposed mission of "national rejuvenation."