China and Russia are commemorating the 80th anniversary of “their” victory in World War II. In so doing, the two autocracies display a historical revisionism that would inspire their dictatorial forebears, Mao Zedong and Josef Stalin.

China held a massive military parade on Wednesday to celebrate the surrender of Imperial Japan and the end of World War II. Beijing also used the opportunity to showcase its burgeoning military power. But Beijing wanted to highlight its growing anti-Western axis. Accordingly, China’s President, Xi Jinping, invited two dozen foreign leaders and dignitaries. North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, Iran’s Masoud Pezeshkian, and Russia’s Vladimir Putin were among them.