Putin’s collection of oddball allies grows by the day. It’s time the west got tougher | Simon Tisdall

Vladimir Putin must be feeling fairly desperate if he’s relying on Kim Jong-un for friendship and support. There’s a reason why North Korea’s unpredictable dictator is among the world’s most ostracised leaders. Nobody likes him and he don’t care, as the saying goes. Yet Russia’s despised, isolated war-criminal president is in much the same leaky boat these days, slowly sinking, calling out for help. After being forced to duck the Brics and G20 summits for fear of arrest, humiliated Putin’s consolation prize is a possible meeting with Kim in Vladivostok…

China’s Xi to Visit Putin Under Shadow of War-Crimes Warrant

Global dividing lines over Russia’s war in Ukraine hardened on Friday with the announcement that China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, would personally meet with President Vladimir V. Putin in Russia next week — and that he would do so under the shadow of an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court that accuses Mr. Putin of war crimes. Mr. Xi’s visit was cast by China as a mission of personal diplomacy to help make peace between Russia and Ukraine. But it is more broadly seen by Western officials as…