Reframing Europe as an example of civilizational erosion reinforces crisis narratives among conservatives in the United States while mirroring problems that exist within Europe itself. In effect, Washington is using Europe’s crisis to tell a story about America.

The Trump administration’s transactional diplomacy in Central Asia comes with both reconfiguration and constraints. It has broadened the scope of U.S. engagement, yet its depth and structural impact on regional geopolitics are limited.

In the near future, the supposed “multipolar” world has been deferred, giving way instead to “orbital bipolarity”—a system in which global politics and industry are pulled into competing gravitational fields centered on the United States and China. Multilateralism has become inert, and every other power now orbits these two anchors while maintaining the fiction of choice and autonomy.

Trump and Xi’s latest meeting was a remarkable display of amiability between the U.S. and China, yet the conflicts at hand saw no progress toward resolution.

China and Italy’s 55th anniversary of diplomatic ties underscores a shared recognition that disengagement is neither realistic nor beneficial, even as geopolitical tensions rise. The way forward is a pragmatic, economically focused partnership centered on green cooperation, financial connectivity, and people-to-people exchange, and anchored in Italy’s Euro-Atlantic commitments.

Europe’s dissatisfaction, anxiety and dependence will continue to shape the next stage of transatlantic relations. The rift may not lead to a break. But it will likely lead to a relationship that becomes ever more transactional, more realist and ultimately more fragile.

The meeting of two presidents in South Korea laid a solid foundation for the future. Both China and the U.S. will exist for a long time on this planet, and that continuity should be reflected in all their relations. They have charted a new course for mutual success.

By sacrificing Chinese interests to signal alignment with the United States, the European Union overestimates its own leverage and underestimates China’s resilience and strategic resolve, thereby complicating pragmatic China-EU cooperation and impeding coordination on global challenges.

In the tense relationship between the United States and China, Hong Kong emerges as a middle space — a vantage point from which to imagine a way forward. The city’s unique position offers a metaphorical middle ground for dialogue, emphasising the need for new frameworks to navigate today’s complex rivalries.

In mid-November 2025, Japan’s new prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, in a moment of parliamentary pressure, crossed a line that Beijing had long drawn in red ink.