Trump, Putin, Xi APEC Meeting Draws Yalta Comparisons — SkimNews
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- APEC's November 18-19 summit has a potential Trump-Putin-Xi meeting under discussion on its margins, prompting comparisons with the February 1945 Yalta summit involving Britain, the US and Soviet Union.
- Trump treats China and Russia as fellow great powers: the 2025 US national security strategy frames the Western Hemisphere as a region of US predominance and implies similar spheres for Russia and China, while Washington has imposed a leadership change in Venezuela and backed sympathetic populist regimes in Latin America.
- Putin is trying to restore Russian control of Ukraine by force of arms and has used bribery, threats and subversion to surround Russia with sympathetic regimes in the former Soviet sphere.
- Xi has made no secret of his aim to recover control of Taiwan and is keen to extend Chinese influence through Myanmar, Southeast Asia and the South China Sea.
- European Union appears to be viewed by Trump, Putin and Xi as an obstacle to their worldview; the US and Russia are stoking grievances and backing anti-EU populist parties they hope will undermine European unity.
- United Nations grew from 43 member states in 1946 to 193 members, and the postwar multilateral order helped end empires while seeking to make the world safe for small countries after formal colonial control ended.
- Iran and Ukraine illustrate how modern military technology lets weaker actors inflict 'unbearable pain' on stronger ones; force alone now produces prolonged 'forever wars' in which no one admits defeat.
Why it matters: The material stakes are concrete: of the 193 UN members, all but a few are small or medium powers with an overwhelming interest in rules, rights and peaceful commerce. Trump's dismissal of traditional allies has already weakened US influence, leaving whoever takes office in 2028 a difficult alliance-repair task.
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