Not content with disturbing the peace in Europe, Russian President Vladimir Putin recently signed a comprehensive strategic partnership treaty with his North Korean counterpart, Kim Jong Un. As troubling to China’s leaders as it is to Western officials, the deal is shaking up the geopolitics of Northeast Asia and sending reverberations around the world. Despite the strategic unease that Putin has provoked, the West must be careful neither to overestimate nor underestimate the treaty’s importanc