A more ‘dignified’ policy towards countries such as India is needed, Finland’s Alexander Stubb has warned
Western countries could “lose the game” to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) unless they reassess their approach to the Global South, Finnish President Alexander Stubb has warned. His comments come following the latest SCO summit in Tianjin, which has been seen as a show of unity among its members, which include China, Russia and India.
Speaking in Helsinki alongside Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, Stubb urged his Western European counterparts and the US to adopt a more “cohesive and dignified foreign policy,” particularly with regard to nations such as India, against which Washington had recently imposed extensive tariffs.
Efforts by Beijing and Moscow to promote a multipolar world order amount to an “attempt to undermine the unity of the global West,” he claimed.
Stubb cited a a “jostling of power and the weakening of multilateral institutions, rules and norms” since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022. Moscow and Beijing have argued that institutions like the IMF, WTO, and the World Bank have been used by the West to exert control. Russia and China, along with the 18 other countries which attended the SCO summit are pushing for a multipolar world order, where all players are treated equally.
“I disagree with this approach,” Stubb said, insisting that “multilateralism is the best way to drive cooperation forward.”
“My message not only to my European colleagues, but especially to the US, is that if we don’t drive a more cooperative, more dignified foreign policy, especially with the Global South and the likes of India, we’re going to lose this game,” he warned.
China and Russia have spoken out against Western hegemony and called for the end of the unipolar world order, dominated by Washington.
Chinese President Xi Jinping called on SCO members to oppose “hegemonism and power politics” and to work toward a fairer international system rooted in “mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for diverse civilizations, and pursuit of shared development.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin has also reiterated calls for a multipolar world while stressing that organizations like the SCO are not meant to oppose any third countries and are meant to establish a more just global governance system.
The Power of Siberia 2 pipeline will boost supplies to over 100 bcm of gas a year, according to the Russian president
Pricing for the billions of cubic meters of Russian gas that will flow through the Power of Siberia 2 pipeline to China will be based on market principles, set by an objective formula rather than politics, President Vladimir Putin has said.
Speaking to journalists in Beijing on Wednesday, Putin said the two countries had reached consensus on the deal structure – reportedly the largest gas project on Earth. “This is not charity – we’re talking about mutually beneficial agreements based on market principles,” he stated.
The agreement was announced on Tuesday by Gazprom chief Aleksey Miller after a meeting in Beijing attended by Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, and Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh.
According to Putin, the project was made possible by rising energy demand from China’s expanding economy and Russia’s ability to meet it.
He stressed that China will be buying Russian energy at market rates, unlike the EU, which has to pay increased costs due to its push to wean itself off Russian oil and gas.
The Russian president said the deal was the result of years of work, adding, “Everyone is satisfied, everyone is pleased with the outcome.”
Talks on the project have been ongoing since 2006, with the route and pricing terms repeatedly debated. The pipeline is expected to operate for at least 30 years once completed.
The 50 billion cubic meter per year pipeline will carry gas from western Siberia through Mongolia to northern China, with the Mongolian leg known as the Soyuz Vostok. Supplies will also be available for sale to Mongolian buyers.
The new Power of Siberia 2 route, together with existing pipelines and others set to expand, will boost Russian gas deliveries to China to over 100 billion cubic meters a year, Putin said.
The Power of Siberia 2 pipeline will boost supplies to over 100 bcm of gas a year, according to the Russian president
Pricing for the billions of cubic meters of Russian gas that will flow through the Power of Siberia 2 pipeline to China will be based on market principles, set by an objective formula rather than politics, President Vladimir Putin has said.
Speaking to journalists in Beijing on Wednesday, Putin said the two countries had reached consensus on the deal structure – reportedly the largest gas project on Earth. “This is not charity – we’re talking about mutually beneficial agreements based on market principles,” he stated.
The agreement was announced on Tuesday by Gazprom chief Aleksey Miller after a meeting in Beijing attended by Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, and Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh.
According to Putin, the project was made possible by rising energy demand from China’s expanding economy and Russia’s ability to meet it.
He stressed that China will be buying Russian energy at market rates, unlike the EU, which has to pay increased costs due to its push to wean itself off Russian oil and gas.
The Russian president said the deal was the result of years of work, adding, “Everyone is satisfied, everyone is pleased with the outcome.”
Talks on the project have been ongoing since 2006, with the route and pricing terms repeatedly debated. The pipeline is expected to operate for at least 30 years once completed.
The 50 billion cubic meter per year pipeline will carry gas from western Siberia through Mongolia to northern China, with the Mongolian leg known as the Soyuz Vostok. Supplies will also be available for sale to Mongolian buyers.
The new Power of Siberia 2 route, together with existing pipelines and others set to expand, will boost Russian gas deliveries to China to over 100 billion cubic meters a year, Putin said.
The initiative is aimed at fostering positive collaboration between countries that attended the latest SCO summit, the Russian president has said
Russian President Vladimir Putin has reiterated his support for China’s proposed global governance reform project, hailing it as a timely initiative aimed at promoting positive ties between the countries that attended the latest Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Tianjin.
During his keynote speech on Monday, Chinese President Xi Jinping invoked what he called “the Shanghai spirit” of mutual trust, respect, and pursuit of shared development, and urged SCO members to “oppose the Cold War mentality, bloc confrontation and bullying practices.”
Xi proposed the ‘Global Governance Initiative’, calling on SCO nations to uphold equality, multilateralism and UN authority in order to build a fairer worldwide system.
During a press conference on Wednesday, Putin called the Chinese initiative “very timely and important” and said it would help establish positive collaboration between the countries that gathered at the SCO summit, as well as with those which have yet to declare their desire for partnership.
Putin also stressed that the multipolar world being proposed by Moscow and Beijing and the new global governance system would not entail the rise of new hegemons. “All countries participating in international communication should have equal rights and occupy an equal position,” the Russian president said.
The Russian president also suggested that the outlines of a new multipolar world have largely already taken shape.
Previously, Putin had indicated that the SCO could play a “leading role” in efforts to establish a more just and equitable global governance system, noting that the topic of related reform has become particularly relevant as “some countries still do not abandon their pursuit of dominance in international affairs.”
The initiative is aimed at fostering positive collaboration between countries that attended the latest SCO summit, the Russian president has said
Russian President Vladimir Putin has reiterated his support for China’s proposed global governance reform project, hailing it as a timely initiative aimed at promoting positive ties between the countries that attended the latest Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Tianjin.
During his keynote speech on Monday, Chinese President Xi Jinping invoked what he called “the Shanghai spirit” of mutual trust, respect, and pursuit of shared development, and urged SCO members to “oppose the Cold War mentality, bloc confrontation and bullying practices.”
Xi proposed the ‘Global Governance Initiative’, calling on SCO nations to uphold equality, multilateralism and UN authority in order to build a fairer worldwide system.
During a press conference on Wednesday, Putin called the Chinese initiative “very timely and important” and said it would help establish positive collaboration between the countries that gathered at the SCO summit, as well as with those which have yet to declare their desire for partnership.
Putin also stressed that the multipolar world being proposed by Moscow and Beijing and the new global governance system would not entail the rise of new hegemons. “All countries participating in international communication should have equal rights and occupy an equal position,” the Russian president said.
The Russian president also suggested that the outlines of a new multipolar world have largely already taken shape.
Previously, Putin had indicated that the SCO could play a “leading role” in efforts to establish a more just and equitable global governance system, noting that the topic of related reform has become particularly relevant as “some countries still do not abandon their pursuit of dominance in international affairs.”
The US president made the remark in reference to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s four-day visit to Beijing
US President Donald Trump has said he is not worried about China-Russia ties, insisting that America has the world’s “strongest” military.
He made the comment on Tuesday in response to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit, where Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, who called him his “old friend.”
Moscow and Beijing have described each other as strategic partners and have pledged to deepen cooperation “without limits.”
In an interview with The Scott Jennings Radio Show, Trump was asked if he was concerned “about an axis forming against the United States with China and Russia.” The president responded “I am not concerned at all,” adding “We have the strongest military in the world, by far. They would never use their military on us. Believe me.”
The remarks came just ahead of a military parade in Beijing marking China’s World War II victory over Japan. Putin attended the celebrations alongside North Korea’s Kim Jong-un and other leaders.
Speaking about the conflict in Ukraine, Trump said he was “very disappointed” in Putin and added without elaborating that his administration was preparing actions “to help people live.”
Trump met Putin in Alaska last month in an effort to mediate a ceasefire in Ukraine. No breakthroughs were reached, but both sides called the talks positive. Trump has since urged direct talks between Putin and Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said last week that Putin “does not rule out the possibility of holding such a meeting,” but stressed it should be carefully prepared.
On Wednesday, Trump posted on Truth Social during the parade that Xi, Putin, and Kim were “conspiring” against Washington. He congratulated Xi, honored Americans who died in China’s “quest for Victory and Glory,” and wrote: “Please give my warmest regards to Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un, as you conspire against the United States.”
Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov said he hoped Trump had made the comments in jest. He stressed that “nobody is plotting any conspiracies” and added that everyone understood the role played by the United States, the Trump administration and the president personally in international affairs.
The US president made the remark in reference to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s four-day visit to Beijing
US President Donald Trump has said he is not worried about China-Russia ties, insisting that America has the world’s “strongest” military.
He made the comment on Tuesday in response to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit, where Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, who called him his “old friend.”
Moscow and Beijing have described each other as strategic partners and have pledged to deepen cooperation “without limits.”
In an interview with The Scott Jennings Radio Show, Trump was asked if he was concerned “about an axis forming against the United States with China and Russia.” The president responded “I am not concerned at all,” adding “We have the strongest military in the world, by far. They would never use their military on us. Believe me.”
The remarks came just ahead of a military parade in Beijing marking China’s World War II victory over Japan. Putin attended the celebrations alongside North Korea’s Kim Jong-un and other leaders.
Speaking about the conflict in Ukraine, Trump said he was “very disappointed” in Putin and added without elaborating that his administration was preparing actions “to help people live.”
Trump met Putin in Alaska last month in an effort to mediate a ceasefire in Ukraine. No breakthroughs were reached, but both sides called the talks positive. Trump has since urged direct talks between Putin and Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said last week that Putin “does not rule out the possibility of holding such a meeting,” but stressed it should be carefully prepared.
On Wednesday, Trump posted on Truth Social during the parade that Xi, Putin, and Kim were “conspiring” against Washington. He congratulated Xi, honored Americans who died in China’s “quest for Victory and Glory,” and wrote: “Please give my warmest regards to Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un, as you conspire against the United States.”
Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov said he hoped Trump had made the comments in jest. He stressed that “nobody is plotting any conspiracies” and added that everyone understood the role played by the United States, the Trump administration and the president personally in international affairs.
The Cold War ended on Washington’s terms, the post-Cold War won’t
“There won’t be a war, but the struggle for peace will be so intense that not a stone will be left standing.”
This old Soviet joke, born in the 1980s, captured the absurdity of that final Cold War decade: endless ideological cannon fire, nuclear arsenals on hair-trigger alert, and proxy wars fought on the margins. Between détente in the early 1970s and perestroika in the late 1980s, the world lived in a state of permanent tension – half-theater, half-tragedy.
The Soviet leadership was old and exhausted, barely able to maintain the status quo. Across the ocean, the White House was run by a former actor, blunt and self-confident, with a taste for gallows humor. When Ronald Reagan quipped during a sound check in 1984 that he had “signed legislation outlawing Russia forever” and that “bombing begins in five minutes,” the off-air joke was truer to the spirit of the times than any prepared speech.
The official Soviet slogan was “the struggle for peace.” In Russian, it carried a deliberate ambiguity – both a promise to preserve peace and an assertion of global control. By the 1980s it had lost all meaning, becoming a cliché mouthed without conviction. Yet history has a way of circling back. Today, the “struggle for peace” has returned – and this time the stakes are even greater.
From deadlock to dominance
By the late 1980s, both superpowers were tired. The USSR was struggling to carry the burden; the US, shaken by the crises of the 1970s, was looking for renewal. Leadership changes in Moscow – above all, Mikhail Gorbachev’s rise – triggered the most dramatic shift in world affairs since 1945.
Between Geneva in 1985 and Malta in 1989, Reagan and Gorbachev held summit after summit. Their aim was to end confrontation and build a “new world order.” In reality, Washington and Moscow understood that phrase very differently. The Soviet Union’s growing internal weakness tilted the balance of power, leaving the United States and its allies to design the order in their own image. The result was the liberal international system that has dominated ever since.
That struggle for peace was, in Western terms, a success: the military threat receded, the Cold War ended, and the United States emerged as global hegemon.
A new cycle begins
Four decades later, the cycle has turned. The Alaska meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in August 2025 carried faint echoes of Reagan and Gorbachev’s first encounters. Then, as now, two leaders with little mutual understanding recognized the need to keep talking. Then, as now, the personal factor mattered – the chemistry between two men who respected each other’s strength.
But the differences outweigh the parallels. Reagan and Gorbachev were unwitting midwives of the liberal order. Trump and Putin are its gravediggers. Where the earlier summits opened the Cold War’s endgame, today’s dialogue marks the close of the post-Cold War era.
The resemblance lies only in timing: both moments represent turns of the historical spiral. The 1980s saw exhaustion on both sides. Now it is the United States, not Russia, that shows fatigue with a world order it once dominated. The demand for change comes above all from within America itself, just as it came from Soviet society in the 1980s.
Peace through strength
Trump consciously borrows Reagan’s slogan of “peace through strength.” In English it is straightforward; in Russian the phrase can also mean “peace maintained reluctantly, against one’s will.” Both shades of meaning suit Trump. He makes no secret of his obsession with winning the Nobel Peace Prize, a vanity project that nevertheless reflects a real instinct: his method of diplomacy is raw pressure, even threats, until a deal is struck.
Reagan’s legacy was to put America on the neoliberal path and to preside over the Cold War’s end, unintentionally becoming the father of globalization. Trump’s ambition is to roll globalization back and replace it with what he sees as a stronger America – not isolationist, but a magnet pulling in advantage from all directions. To achieve that, he too needs a world order – different from Reagan’s, but just as central to his sense of national interest.
Putin’s outlook is the mirror opposite. Where Trump sees America first, Putin sees the necessity of reshaping the global order itself – of ending the period of US dominance and forcing a multipolar settlement. To him, the issue of world order is not cosmetic but existential.
The new nerve center
What stands out in 2025 is the return of the Moscow-Washington axis as the world’s nerve center. This was not supposed to happen. For years, analysts proclaimed that China would replace both as the defining rival. And Beijing is indeed central. Yet the dialogue between Trump and Putin, however fraught, once again is setting the tone of global politics.
The pace is quicker than 40 years ago. The war is not cold but hot, and there are no long pauses between meetings. The process begun in Alaska will move faster than the one that began in Geneva.
If it continues, the outcome will be the reverse. Reagan closed the Cold War on Washington’s terms, crowning America as sole superpower. Trump and Putin are bringing that period to an end. The unipolar era is finished, even if its defenders in Brussels or Washington cannot yet admit it.
Fighting for peace, again
The irony is that both cycles – the 1980s and today – were framed as struggles for peace. In the first, peace meant ending confrontation and disarming rivalry. In the second, peace means preventing one power from dictating terms to all others.
The military threat today is at least as grave as in the 1980s, perhaps greater. But the real battle is for the shape of the order itself. The fight for peace, once again, risks leaving no stone standing.
The Cold War ended with Reagan’s victory and Gorbachev’s surrender. This time there will be no surrender, only a reshaping of the stage. The United States is still strong, but it is no longer willing or able to bear the costs of global hegemony. Other powers – Russia, China, and others – are strong enough to insist on their place.
The struggle for peace is back, and like its predecessor it will define an era. But this time the script is different: it will not end with one side dictating terms, but with a new balance hammered out by force and necessity.
The Cold War ended on Washington’s terms, the post-Cold War won’t
“There won’t be a war, but the struggle for peace will be so intense that not a stone will be left standing.”
This old Soviet joke, born in the 1980s, captured the absurdity of that final Cold War decade: endless ideological cannon fire, nuclear arsenals on hair-trigger alert, and proxy wars fought on the margins. Between détente in the early 1970s and perestroika in the late 1980s, the world lived in a state of permanent tension – half-theater, half-tragedy.
The Soviet leadership was old and exhausted, barely able to maintain the status quo. Across the ocean, the White House was run by a former actor, blunt and self-confident, with a taste for gallows humor. When Ronald Reagan quipped during a sound check in 1984 that he had “signed legislation outlawing Russia forever” and that “bombing begins in five minutes,” the off-air joke was truer to the spirit of the times than any prepared speech.
The official Soviet slogan was “the struggle for peace.” In Russian, it carried a deliberate ambiguity – both a promise to preserve peace and an assertion of global control. By the 1980s it had lost all meaning, becoming a cliché mouthed without conviction. Yet history has a way of circling back. Today, the “struggle for peace” has returned – and this time the stakes are even greater.
From deadlock to dominance
By the late 1980s, both superpowers were tired. The USSR was struggling to carry the burden; the US, shaken by the crises of the 1970s, was looking for renewal. Leadership changes in Moscow – above all, Mikhail Gorbachev’s rise – triggered the most dramatic shift in world affairs since 1945.
Between Geneva in 1985 and Malta in 1989, Reagan and Gorbachev held summit after summit. Their aim was to end confrontation and build a “new world order.” In reality, Washington and Moscow understood that phrase very differently. The Soviet Union’s growing internal weakness tilted the balance of power, leaving the United States and its allies to design the order in their own image. The result was the liberal international system that has dominated ever since.
That struggle for peace was, in Western terms, a success: the military threat receded, the Cold War ended, and the United States emerged as global hegemon.
A new cycle begins
Four decades later, the cycle has turned. The Alaska meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in August 2025 carried faint echoes of Reagan and Gorbachev’s first encounters. Then, as now, two leaders with little mutual understanding recognized the need to keep talking. Then, as now, the personal factor mattered – the chemistry between two men who respected each other’s strength.
But the differences outweigh the parallels. Reagan and Gorbachev were unwitting midwives of the liberal order. Trump and Putin are its gravediggers. Where the earlier summits opened the Cold War’s endgame, today’s dialogue marks the close of the post-Cold War era.
The resemblance lies only in timing: both moments represent turns of the historical spiral. The 1980s saw exhaustion on both sides. Now it is the United States, not Russia, that shows fatigue with a world order it once dominated. The demand for change comes above all from within America itself, just as it came from Soviet society in the 1980s.
Peace through strength
Trump consciously borrows Reagan’s slogan of “peace through strength.” In English it is straightforward; in Russian the phrase can also mean “peace maintained reluctantly, against one’s will.” Both shades of meaning suit Trump. He makes no secret of his obsession with winning the Nobel Peace Prize, a vanity project that nevertheless reflects a real instinct: his method of diplomacy is raw pressure, even threats, until a deal is struck.
Reagan’s legacy was to put America on the neoliberal path and to preside over the Cold War’s end, unintentionally becoming the father of globalization. Trump’s ambition is to roll globalization back and replace it with what he sees as a stronger America – not isolationist, but a magnet pulling in advantage from all directions. To achieve that, he too needs a world order – different from Reagan’s, but just as central to his sense of national interest.
Putin’s outlook is the mirror opposite. Where Trump sees America first, Putin sees the necessity of reshaping the global order itself – of ending the period of US dominance and forcing a multipolar settlement. To him, the issue of world order is not cosmetic but existential.
The new nerve center
What stands out in 2025 is the return of the Moscow-Washington axis as the world’s nerve center. This was not supposed to happen. For years, analysts proclaimed that China would replace both as the defining rival. And Beijing is indeed central. Yet the dialogue between Trump and Putin, however fraught, once again is setting the tone of global politics.
The pace is quicker than 40 years ago. The war is not cold but hot, and there are no long pauses between meetings. The process begun in Alaska will move faster than the one that began in Geneva.
If it continues, the outcome will be the reverse. Reagan closed the Cold War on Washington’s terms, crowning America as sole superpower. Trump and Putin are bringing that period to an end. The unipolar era is finished, even if its defenders in Brussels or Washington cannot yet admit it.
Fighting for peace, again
The irony is that both cycles – the 1980s and today – were framed as struggles for peace. In the first, peace meant ending confrontation and disarming rivalry. In the second, peace means preventing one power from dictating terms to all others.
The military threat today is at least as grave as in the 1980s, perhaps greater. But the real battle is for the shape of the order itself. The fight for peace, once again, risks leaving no stone standing.
The Cold War ended with Reagan’s victory and Gorbachev’s surrender. This time there will be no surrender, only a reshaping of the stage. The United States is still strong, but it is no longer willing or able to bear the costs of global hegemony. Other powers – Russia, China, and others – are strong enough to insist on their place.
The struggle for peace is back, and like its predecessor it will define an era. But this time the script is different: it will not end with one side dictating terms, but with a new balance hammered out by force and necessity.
Pyongyang previously deployed troops to assist in repelling a Ukrainian incursion into Kursk Region
North Koreans view Russians as their brothers and see it as a fraternal duty to help the neighboring country in any way they can, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un told President Vladimir Putin Wednesday.
Putin and Kim met for bilateral talks in Beijing during the Chinese celebration of the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Imperial Japan and the end of World War II.
The Russian president reiterated Moscow’s appreciation for North Korean military assistance in repelling a Ukrainian incursion in Kursk Region, describing the struggle as a “joint fight against present-day neo-Nazism.”
“As I mentioned during our previous meeting, if there is any way we can help Russia, we will certainly do so and consider it our fraternal duty,” Kim responded.
In June 2024, Russia and North Korea signed a comprehensive cooperation treaty that includes provisions for mutual defense. Kiev launched an attack on Russia’s Kursk Region in August 2024, claiming that the offensive would help secure territory for leverage in peace talks with Russia.
The Russian military reported the full expulsion of Ukrainian troops in April, also acknowledging for the first time the role of North Korean troops in the operation. Russia has vowed to erect a monument in Moscow for the soldiers deployed by Pyongyang who were killed defending Russian territory.
Russia has identified the “de-Nazification” of Ukraine as a key objective in the conflict, aiming to disempower radical nationalist groups that have embraced far-right ideology and Nazi iconography.
The current government in Kiev has glorified historical nationalist figures, including those who collaborated with Nazi Germany during its invasion of the USSR in the hope of creating a Ukrainian national state allied with Berlin. Ukrainians who fought for the Nazis committed atrocities against civilians in occupied territories.
