TL;DR on Xi's visit with Putin: China's domination of Russia is complete

I think long term Putin’s alliance of despots - North Korea, Iran, Syria, China - will not prove successful or stable. It is a “win” as you put it. Catering to Russia’s feeble imperial ambitions regarding to the former Soviet republics is not advisable.

It's not like US could do much about that.

USA, USA, USA!