Return of the Poles

Donald Trump returned from Beijing without realizing that the most historically significant outcome of the visit was that it consecrated the return of bipolar politics to the enchanted globe. After the collapse of the Soviet Union and Russia’s decline into the ranks of middle powers, the United States appeared to stand alone as the sole superpower and the world’s only pole. Ideology, too, seemed to have exited the conflict that had dominated the twentieth century between communism and capitalism. China and Russia alike had embraced the “philosophy of the free market,” performing together the tango of rise and fall on the stock exchanges.

America enjoyed its solitary position at the summit, while China quietly pursued the top title. This transformation occurred without formal declaration, at the very moment when Chairman Xi appeared not merely as host to his American guest, but as an equal partner—rather than a statesman carrying aboard his aircraft the wealthiest businessmen on earth.

The leader of the “free world” arrived seeking from his Chinese counterpart the opening of markets and the dismantling of barriers. Politically, he also sought Beijing’s assistance in confronting Iranian intransigence. Beyond that, there seemed to be no other issue on the map of the changing world. Did you not notice Chairman Xi and Mr. President in that symbolic image: standing alone in a vast expanse, with nothing and no one before them, as though time itself were bearing witness to the return of the imperial age?

After Trump’s return to Washington, the world began revisiting the scenes of the trip, image by image. Second from the right stood Chairman Xi, behind Chairman Mao. Outside the frame, and far removed from it, stood Russia and Europe. In the second row, smiling politely and contemplatively, stood Asia—small, great, and central Asia alike—from Singapore to India. The Asians are coming.

Only Africa remains trapped in an endless slumber. Three of its rulers have now spent half a century in power, and when they awaken from their long sleep, they dream only of the other half-century yet to come.

And this, then, is the world this morning: the race between the hare and the tortoise. According to the story, it is the tortoise that advances.