When Chinese president Xi Jinping arrived in Moscow, on Monday, for his first overseas trip after securing his third term as leader of the Communist Party and of China, you may have been forgiven for thinking it was Jesus Christ himself who had returned. Traffic in the Russian capital was snarled to a standstill. State television was breathless in its wall-to-wall coverage of the Chinese leader’s three-day visit. The menu for the first night’s dinner, showcasing traditional Russian cuisine, thank you very much, featured venison and blinys with quail, and finished with Russian ice cream, apparently Xi’s favorite. We know this because, as a beaming news anchor explained, on one of his many visits to Moscow, Xi tried Russian ice cream from a humble street vendor and loved it! “Now,” the anchor continued, “Putin sends it to him by the case load.”