The international system was always anarchic, but the current shift in the balance of global influence is making it more turbulent and uncertain. For good or for bad, the global geopolitical landscape is experiencing a shift, and the great responsibility of all stakeholders, including the state practitioners and policymakers, is to correctly read these changes and make sure that the choices they make enable the countries that they lead to stand on the right side of history.

Uncertainty of the international system is aptly described in how Iran, despite engaging in the fifth round of nuclear talks with the US, is not buoyed by the idea of reconciliation but is more concerned and threatened by the growing possibility of an Israeli air strike on its nuclear facilities.

No central authority, not even the US, can probably guarantee that no such military action will take place, thus making the international system so anarchic. China and Russia lead the change the world is witnessing in the global balance of influence. That change is well demonstrated in the way both these great powers view the uncertain times that Iran is experiencing.

The geopolitical positioning of Russia and China on Iran matters, and both the US and Israel would do well to correctly read their position before the game-changing decision about Iran is finally taken — integrating Iran in the global economy or taking a military action against it.

Russia is fighting a war in Ukraine, and ideally, it should be happy to see its main adversary preoccupied in the Middle East. This diversion of American attention suits Russia, and it is not merely the diversion of attention but also the diversion of........

© The Express Tribune