“Axis of Convenience”: Exploding the Myth of an Authoritarian Alliance in Russia-China Relations by Bobo Lo (Brookings Institution Press, £18.99, 300 pages) I recently had the pleasure of attending a discussion by Bobo Lo on Russia-China relations at Chatham House here in London. Dr. Lo’s new book, “Axis of Convenience”, provides fascinating and compelling insights into the complicated relationship between Moscow and Beijing, which has often been touted in recent years as a burgeoning alliance of growing concern to traditional centers of power. Far from the collusive geopolitical counterweight that it is often portrayed to be, the Moscow-Beijing axis is explained by Dr. Lo to be much more an alliance of convenience, driven by ad hoc pragmatism rather than some threatening grand design. The countries are all at once cooperative yet ambivalent, and even cynical, with respect to each other.