U.S. President Joe Biden's recent surprise visit to Ukraine has placed added pressure on Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to follow in the footsteps of the other Group of Seven leaders. Antagonism between China and the United States is rising — the latest episode focusing on alleged spy balloons — while Washington has been increasingly open in its backing for Taiwan.
So a year after the start of the Russian assault on Ukraine, we see war and tensions on both sides of Eurasia, with the possibility of a Chinese attack on Taiwan.
When Vladimir Putin tried to destroy Ukraine, most European Union states and the United Kingdom sided with Kyiv. Their combined economies are around 10 times larger than Russia's and are technologically superior. They have more than 300 million more inhabitants than Russia. Russia's national income is comparable to Italy's, but its male life expectancy is at least 12 years shorter.