Strategic Alliances, Social Fractures
Putin-Xi Tango
Vladimir Putin arrived in Beijing on the evening of 19 May for a two-day state visit, greeted at the airport by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and a crowd of flag-waving youth. On 20 May, the main working day of the visit, formal talks between Putin and Xi Jinping with a joint statement and a substantial package of bilateral agreements expected.
Energy dominates the agenda. Russia's oil exports to China rose 35 percent in the first quarter of 2026, and with the Strait of Hormuz closure rattling energy markets across Asia, Beijing has fresh urgency to lock in Russian supply. Putin signalled last week that Moscow and Beijing are at "a very advanced stage" of a major oil and gas deal, adding that "practically all the key issues have been agreed upon." The long-discussed Power of Siberia 2 gas pipeline is also expected to feature in the discussions.
The visit coincides with the 25th anniversary of the 2001 Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation, lending it symbolic weight beyond the immediate agenda. Analysts note that Taiwan may be a less visible but significant thread running through the talks, while Chinese state media has framed the nearly back-to-back Trump and Putin visits as evidence of China's emergence as the world's foremost diplomatic pivot.
San Diego Mosque Attack
At least five people are dead, including two suspected shooters, after a Monday morning attack on the Islamic Center of San Diego that authorities are investigating as a possible hate crime. The three men killed were Mansour Kaziha, a longtime staff member of the mosque who called police before he was shot; Nader Awad, a member of the community who lived across the street; and Amin Abdullah, a security guard credited with thwarting the attack. The mosque's board chairman, Ahmed Shabaik, told that all three men died in the act of responding to the gunmen.
The attack began at approximately 11:43 am (local time), when police received reports of a shooting at the Islamic Center. Minutes later, reports of additional gunfire emerged from a couple of blocks away, where witnesses said the gunmen carried out a drive-by shooting before fleeing. The two teenage shooters were found dead of apparent self-inflicted wounds and appear to have been radicalised online, where they first met, according to the FBI. They fired their weapons while displaying Nazi and white supremacist imagery on their clothing and firearms, and shared a live video of the shooting.
Investigators are working to authenticate a manifesto posted online espousing anti-Islamic, antisemitic and anti-LGBTQ views, which references accelerationism, a white supremacist ideology that promotes violence to hasten the collapse of existing society. The document describes the perpetrator of the 2019 Christchurch Mosque massacre as a "hero." The attack occurred on the first day of Dhul Hijjah, one of the holiest periods in the Islamic calendar. The Los Angeles Police Department announced it was stepping up patrols around mosques and places of worship across the city, while California Governor Gavin Newsom said he was "horrified" by the violence.
Written by Sarthak Ahuja
May 21, 2026