The G20 duels

The sudden burst of activities of world leaders has given the world a sense of amusement. The flurry of so-called democracy acts put up by world leaders was a treat to the eyes. It’s been an interesting showdown of global powers in Brisbane at the G20 meet.

The US president is flying around meeting leaders at various venues in the East. The latest debacle with the Democrats in the congress and Senate has turned the table for Barack Obama at home.

He is floundering. His speech has lost the bite and sting that we could hear only a few weeks ago. After all, he doesn’t have the necessary hands to carry out his reforms in and outside the country. The US is at a turning point now.

Obama’s last term in office is sure to be an uneventful affair. Obamacare is under heavy pressure. Americans believe that it did not work. The outside world is somewhat weary with the US. The decision of whether or not to fight in the Middle East has been the mainstay of US foreign policy. The issue of Israel is there. The Tel Aviv gunman is not listening to the US. That is quite clear.

John Kerry has been a failure. It was a wrong choice by President Obama. Kerry is just not fit to be the foreign affairs man. He lacks the wit and intelligence. He is unimpressive on many counts. Thus, the unassailable influence of the US over the region has perished.

Rather, the president and the team are confused as to what to do with the current situation. It was a different story a year ago, now it’s all so murky. Every day, a new fighting force is emerging in the deserts of the ME; the US will not find it easy to draw out strategies to take on the new militants.

Vladimir Putin is the man of the moment now. He suddenly comes out with challenges facing the West. He has been literally alone in his face off against the Western allies and the US. Crimea has been taken, Ukraine is in turmoil.

With the blame games on, Putin met the world leaders at the G20 meet. Leaders of USA, Canada, and Australia rebuked him. It was a rare moment for the Russian leader to have faced such an awkward situation.

He found himself in thick soup. He couldn’t care less. He flew off early to be in the comforts of the cold mansions of Moscow.

On his part, nothing will change. Russian olden days will be revisited and her imperial design is hardly to change. A Soviet Union is still the dream of many.

In this end, we have Chinese power rising like the phoenix. President Xi Ji Ping is calling the shots.  He has been stealing the global show everywhere. He has managed to impress or influence the world to turn towards China – the great middle kingdom of the past.

China will not sit idle on anything. The character of the past Chinese leaders should not be forgotten. The leaders were always aggressive and they had the intention of becoming a superpower.

The rise of China has been simply awesome. In only 50 years, China has become a real power to reckon with. The US will have to knock Beijing’s door quite often. When you become a strong economy, political powers settle in automatically. China is building its power all around.

Japan is apprehensive. Japan will not be able to match China in any way. At least, it appears so for now. For Japan, its foreign policy has been one of introverted diplomacy. While industrialisation and materialistic advancement has been achieved, there was never a stable political climate in the country.

So many governments ended prematurely, many ministers and politicians have been forced to quit in disgrace. The internal turmoil goes on. The inner squabbles hardly allowed foreign policies to grow. There needs to be robust overseas action in place to tackle the likes of Xi.

India will have to come to terms with China as well. Narendra Modi will have to plan accordingly. India can hardly play the fool along the borders. Modi will have to team up with Jinping to be partners for a stronger Asia.

Modi’s plan to rope in the smaller neighbours is okay. But that will not serve the greater Indian purpose. Nepal, Bhutan, and Myanmar cannot be strong partners in fighting the biggies like China or the US.

Don’t forget the sudden surge of Russian power. Putin has made his intention clear. Russian belligerence is unlikely to stop now. Modi will have to further cement ties with Russia.

We have the US-Russia duel, EU-Russia animosity, US-China rivalry, and India–China struggle, all going on at the same time. We have not witnessed this kind of situation for many years. We are witnessing a change in global leadership. In the final shaping, it will be a weak US on one end, and stronger Russia and China on the other.