Say Cheese, Mr Trump: The Modi-Putin-Xi picture Washington won’t like

Trump is unlikely to publicly object to a BRICS summit or to India hosting Putin and Xi. But an unmistakably warm Modi-Xi-Putin visual, combined with announcements on trade, payments or energy could trigger renewed American scrutiny of India’s strategic choices.

Two weeks from now, social media will likely be flooded again with candid, deep-in-conversation, highly gesticulated group shots of three world leaders. The last time Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping met together was almost exactly a year ago at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit in Tianjin. Their ‘candid’ photographs – Modi clasping Putin’s hand, the three leaders huddled together and laughing – became global headlines and went viral on social media. They were amplified given the geopolitical tensions of the moment.

To say the last one year was eventful for the world would be an understatement. In September 2025, the US was yet to venture into Venezuela and the joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran were nowhere on the horizon. The world was looking ahead at 2026 as the year........

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