The upcoming US-China summit in Korea will be the first of its kind, with the PRC holding a strategic advantage over the US. How did Xi consolidate power internally, and what are his risks? This is a reprint of an essay on the topic from 30 months ago. It will be the sixth meeting between […]
Truth and smoke, mirrors and substance surrounding the recent twin events in China: the SCO meeting and the military showcase. Beijing claimed a new friendship with India and a world-class army. The overall message is one of defiance toward America. On September 3, with a historic military parade in Beijing, Chinese President Xi Jinping showed […]
Fissures and uncertainties with friends and allies, an ongoing degrading campaign against the US president, are undermining 80 years of American power. China is benefiting from it, but it should be prudent. India may become a significant and unexpected complication in US President Donald Trump’s efforts to secure a peace deal on Ukraine, with even […]
The conclave that led to the election of Pope Leo XIV was more geopolitical than its participants were willing to admit. It also demonstrated that the Catholic Church is capable of making timely decisions in response to global emergencies when taking a stand within a world order undergoing profound transformation, if not outright disintegration. The […]
The lesson from the US crackdown on protests could be different in Beijing—suppressing uprisings without suppressing opposition would be a theological turn, akin to that with the Vatican. The Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported that: “Chinese state media have sought to portray the escalating Los Angeles protests against President Donald Trump’s immigration policies […]
Group thinking, social media, and esoteric information converge in the West and China, but Beijing might do it better. The risk of autocracy is in the control of information. It could stifle it all, as the freedom of thought generated modernity. It may look like something that happened in Rome. For two decades, Italian politics […]
A new global horizon is looming after the White House shambles. Can the US and its allies patch up a way forward and begin to shape something like a modern “Holy Roman Empire?” This week could be crucial to start outlining a way forward after the spat at the White House. It’s a massive mess […]
