China is a full-blown communist state and Russia is a once-upon-a-time communist state whose leader is still bitterly upset about the collapse of communism there.

So it's not surprising that the two countries would be sort of simpatico on a lot of things, particularly Russia's late foreign policy venture:

The Chinese government is scrubbing the country's media of sympathetic or accurate coverage of Ukraine and systematically amplifying pro-Putin talking points about Russia's invasion of Ukraine...

China's wide use of its propaganda and censorship muscle helps insulate Beijing from a domestic backlash against its support for Putin— and leaves its citizens with an airbrushed, false version of events, similar to what's seen in Putin's state-controlled Russia...

Chinese media outlets were told to avoid posting "anything unfavorable to Russia or pro-Western" on their social media accounts, and to only use hashtags started by Chinese state media outlets, according to a leaked censorship directive.

On the one hand, "the Chinese government is scrubbing the country's media of [insert something the Chinese government doesn't like here]." That must mean it's Tuesday.

On the other hand, this is an uncharacteristic tell from Beijing: It shows rather pointedly just how nervous they are about their citizens learning anything about the outside world, particularly the loathsome allies the country's Chinese Communist Party have made.

If China is afraid of a "domestic backlash" over Putin's invasion, they very likely have good reason to be. It also speaks to just how much of a blunder that invasion will likely ultimately be for Putin himself.

All of which is to underscore a classic historical principle: If you're censoring, you're probably either losing or going to lose in the near future.

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