While Western alliances like the G7 have been strained, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is rising with a vengeance. The recent SCO summit featured a powerful display of unity between the leaders of India, China, and Russia, sending a clear message that a new center of global power is consolidating in the East.
This shift has not gone unnoticed in the United States. Political commentator Van Jones called the SCO gathering a “historically big deal,” contrasting its harmony with the discord in the West. The image of Narendra Modi, Xi Jinping, and Vladimir Putin together, he argued, is a sign of a “new world order” that is actively working to displace American influence.
The summit’s unified front was a clear rebuke of the US administration’s tariff policies. As Washington picks trade fights, other nations are building bridges. The bonhomie between Modi, Xi, and Putin was a masterstroke of public diplomacy, showcasing a viable and powerful alternative to the Western-led order.
Jones warned that the US is facing a “dagger pointed at the heart of the West.” He argued that America has lost its strategic footing and now finds itself on the “bad side of the triangle.” The consequence is a world where “it’s everybody against us,” a perilous situation for a country accustomed to being the global leader.