The World’s Most Powerful Leaders (Minus One): A Summit’s Ominous Message

A meeting of three of the world’s most powerful leaders sent an ominous message to a fourth who was conspicuously absent. The unity of India’s Modi, China’s Xi, and Russia’s Putin at the SCO summit, without a US presence, has been interpreted as a clear sign of a “new world order.”
This message was not lost on American political analyst Van Jones, who called the gathering a “historically big deal.” He warned that the powerful image of this trio should “send a chill down the spine of every American,” as it signals a global shift away from US leadership.
The summit’s timing, amidst a US-led trade war, was no accident. It was a calculated diplomatic move to show that a significant portion of the world is prepared to build a future that is not dictated by Washington’s terms. The bonhomie on display was a powerful symbol of this shared resolve.
Jones argued that this has left the US in a strategically vulnerable position. He used the analogy of a triangle to explain that the US is now the isolated party. “It’s everybody against us,” he stated grimly, a reality that is “not good for us.”