Spheres of influence: How Putin, XI, and Trump have divided up the world

Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) shakes hands with Chinese Leader Xi Jinping (R) during their meeting in Moscow on July 4, 2017. [Mikhail KLIMENTIEV / Sputnik / AFP]

The third decade of the 21st Century is full of uncertainty as three leaders of top powers seem determined to destroy the post-World War II world order. The trio, Russia’s Vladimir Putin, China’s Xi Jinping, and America’s Donald Trump, have similar orientation towards society and their regions. Each was raised in the supposedly good times of ‘peace’ and prosperity which the victors designed in 1945 and which each seemingly wants to reorganise into possible spheres of interest.

Three men, each seeking to safeguard his country’s interests while stopping the possibility of another war, designed the 1945 post-World War II architecture with the United Nations as the geopolitical linchpin. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a Woodrow Wilson protégé, in creating the United Nations, wanted to avoid Wilson’s mistakes in the League of Nations. Britain’s Winston Churchill’s imperialist credentials rivalled such other British imperialists as Benjamin Disraeli and David Lloyd George wanted to preserve his empire. The Soviet Union’s Joseph Stalin, having replaced Vladimir Lenin and imposed his version of communism, wanted protection for Russia against future invasions through Eastern Europe.