The Lead

'The World Hopes the Putin-Trump-Xi Meeting Will Help Overcome the Chaos'

by Dennis Small (EIRNS) — Oct. 24, 2026

That was the considered formulation of Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova during a TV broadcast on Oct. 25, Moscow time. The diplomat was referring to the increasingly likely meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin, U.S. leader Donald Trump, and Chinese head of state Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Nov. 18-19 APEC summit in Shenzhen, China.

“At a time that is extremely difficult in terms of international relations,” Zakharova stated, “when the entire planet is literally being shaken, the leaders of the three major powers will have the opportunity, within a multilateral framework… to exchange views.” She added: “Of course, the eyes of millions, or even billions, will be fixed on this [meeting]. Naturally, people are pinning high hopes on such a meeting. Why? Because many want to begin moving away from this slide toward absolute chaos and return to stability, or, at the very least, to a path that could lead to that stability,” she emphasized.

Zakharova’s reading of the urgency of the moment, and the potential role of such a tripartite summit, echoes that of the Aug. 20 “Appeal to Pope Leo XIV To Organize a Global Leaders Summit to Address the Questions of Peace and Nuclear Disarmament”, which is being circulated worldwide by leading international anti-war activists, including the Schiller Institute, and which states:

“We appeal to Your Holiness, as the leader who has made the greatest effort to speak for humanity as a whole, instead of for specific nations, religions, or constituencies, to call for an emergency international summit to guide the world away from the current path of war and potential nuclear disaster and to peacefully resolve the greatest crises facing humanity today… We urge you, Pope Leo, to use your unique moral authority to convene such a meeting of the world’s leaders, including the heads of state of the three principal nuclear powers, to meet and respond to the pleas of humanity to take our world in a fundamentally different direction before it is too late.”

Of course, there are those who are planning otherwise, and that in the very short term. A desperate Bibi Netanyahu of Israel, who is prepared to nuke Iran if given half a chance, if that will help his reelection. War party fanatics in Washington and the EU, who believe the time has come to use tactical nuclear weapons to bring Russia and China to heel. And above all, British imperial ideologues, such as former MI6 director Sir Richard Dearlove, who have revived the Bernard Lewis Plan for unleashing religious warfare across Southwest Asia.

But perhaps the hope that the prospect of such a tripartite Trump-Putin-Xi summit has already evoked, as Zakharova noted, will itself contribute to preventing the outbreak of renewed warfare against Iran between now and Nov. 18.

Contents

Strategic War Danger

New World Paradigm

U.S. and Canada

LaRouche movement

Collapsing Imperial System

Support our work 🙏

Support our work directly with a tip or donation — as a reader-supported publication, we rely on readers like you to keep this work going!

In-Depth