China’s “grand” military parade marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II — with Russian President Vladimir Putin, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and many other foreign dignitaries in attendance — was interpreted by foreign-policy experts as an attempt by President Xi Jinping to present China as the custodian of a post-U.S. international order.
Whether or not we are truly on the cusp of a “post-U.S.” international order depends largely on the success of the second Trump administration and its attempts to force its regional allies — most clearly in Europe and the Indo-Pacific — to assume a greater financial and military burden in defense of their own borders.
Nowhere is this clearer than with the existential challenges facing the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the alliance formed to assure the peace at the close of World War II. Over three and a half years have passed since the war in Ukraine began with Russia's so-called special military operation. Yet, with civilian and military deaths in the hundreds of thousands, there is still no clear path to resolution.
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