A parade and a summit in China underscore how European security will never be the same again

This week, Russian President Vladimir Putin had a clear message for Ukraine and its European allies: Moscow can keep going, because we have powerful friends.

China with the men who have enabled him to wage his war on Ukraine for as long and as ferociously as he has: China’s leader Xi Jinping, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.

More than three years into what Putin once thought would be a quick takeover of his much smaller and weaker neighbor, Russia would be unable to sustain the fight without Chinese and Indian money, Iranian weapons and, to a lesser extent, manpower from North Korea.

The leaders who gathered in China may not agree on everything. Some of them may not even like each other very much. But they are seeing the opportunity of a lifetime to end Western dominance of the global stage. And Europe fears it could be in the firing line.

“Russia is trying to demonstrate that even though it has been isolated from the Western world, it still has partners and allies which are economically strong countries… And this isolation doesn‘t mean that the Russian economy will crumble or that Russia will be unable to sustain its war effort,” Natia Seskuria, an associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI),

The US has been retreating from the global stage under President Donald Trump and his “America First” agenda. Meanwhile, Europe is battling its own demons, including a surge in far-right nationalism and economic pressures.

Russia, China, India and other countries that did not like the idea of a US-dominated world suddenly saw an opening.