Sanae Takaichi’s victory in the Liberal Democratic Party presidential election in early October 2025 represented a dramatic shift in Japanese politics, with the politician becoming the first female party leader in 70 years. Takaichi, a strong conservative who models herself after the “Iron Lady,” Margaret Thatcher, now stands on the verge of becoming Japan’s first female prime minister.

The Tianjin Summit underscored that the SCO is no longer an organization that can be dismissed as peripheral. It has consolidated its identity as a platform for multipolarity, Eurasian connectivity, and Global South representation.

Russia’s war against Ukraine is about much more than just capturing a few regions of Ukraine. Rather, all this is about Russia and China’s efforts to undermine the liberal democratic world order and construct a new one divided by spheres of influence, where Eastern Europe and Eurasia are under Russian domination while the Indo-Pacific comes under China’s sway.

Another major signal the parade has sent to the international community, and especially to the West, that Beijing is more willing and able to make use of its own expanding network of friends and supporters, through bilateral diplomacy but also via organizations like the SCO and the recently expanded BRICS-plus grouping, to cement China as a strategic hub and an opposing pole.

These are tough times for the U.S.-India strategic partnership. Over the last few months, President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi have sparred over various issues, including U.S. reciprocal tariffs (currently at 25%), U.S. sanctions for India’s continued import of discounted Russian oil (another 25%), and an apparent reset in U.S.-Pakistan ties. Recent disagreements have sunk Washington and New Delhi’s relations to the lowest point since 1998.

In sum, neither the U.S.-Russia summit in Alaska nor the U.S.-Europe summit at the White House achieved any real progress on a ceasefire. With issues of territory, NATO membership, and security guarantees unresolved, a negotiated settlement remains unlikely.

Congratulating Thailand’s newly endorsed premier, Anutin Charnvirakul on September 7, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet pledged to “work closely” to restore relations “to normalcy,” rebuild trust, and transform the border into a zone of “peace, cooperation, development, and shared prosperity.”

When Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, and Kim Jong Un walked side by side during the September 3rd military parade in Beijing, the image symbolized the emergence of a China-led coalition challenging the U.S.-dominated international order.