1810s to 1914, Central Asia, Saint Petersburg, London, Berlin • Trump-Xi Beijing summit, 14-15 May 2026: the first US state visit to China since 2017, with a 37-item agenda covering trade, rare earths, advanced-semiconductor controls, Taiwan, the Iran war, Hormuz, and bilateral AI regulation.
On 31 August 1907 Britain and Russia ended a century of Great Game rivalry by carving up Persia, Afghanistan and Tibet into spheres of influence. The countries themselves were not consulted. Seven years later, the First World War. On 14 May 2026 Donald Trump arrives in Beijing to do the same kind of business with Xi Jinping.
•6 min read
1649 to 1660, England, Scotland and Ireland • Tehran, 9 March 2026: the IRGC pressured the Assembly of Experts to elevate Mojtaba Khamenei, midranking cleric and son of the assassinated Ali Khamenei, to third Supreme Leader against his father's expressed opposition.
Oliver Cromwell's son Richard inherited the English Commonwealth in September 1658. The New Model Army deposed him 264 days later. In March 2026, Ali Khamenei's son Mojtaba inherited the Islamic Republic of Iran. The exiled Pahlavi pretender is in Washington.
•6 min read
1971, Islamabad, Beijing, Washington, New Delhi, the Bay of Bengal and Dhaka • Bloomberg, 8 May 2026: One year after the May 2025 India-Pakistan crisis, Trump's warm Pakistan ties (the WLFI crypto MoU; White House reception of Field Marshal Asim Munir) are giving Islamabad diplomatic cover and worrying New Delhi.
In 1971, Richard Nixon used Pakistan as the back channel to Beijing and sent the USS Enterprise into the Bay of Bengal to intimidate India. India responded by signing a friendship treaty with the Soviet Union and dismembering Pakistan in two weeks. Fifty-five years later, Donald Trump's Pakistan tilt is making New Delhi uneasy.
•6 min read
9th century BC to 1939, Olympia, Berlin and the Polish border • Red Square, 9 May 2026: Putin presides over his smallest Victory Day parade in 26 years (no military hardware, 5 foreign leaders), made possible by a Trump-brokered 9-11 May ceasefire with 1,000-for-1,000 prisoner exchange.
Hitler invoked an ancient Greek convention in 1936 so the world's leaders could comfortably attend his Olympics. Three years later he invaded Poland. Ninety years later, Putin needed a three-day ceasefire to hold his Victory Day parade.
•5 min read
1971 to 1977, Camp David, Manhattan, Tokyo, Rome, Washington • Court of International Trade, 7 May 2026: 2-1 ruling against Trump's second 10 percent global tariff, imposed under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974. The administration is preparing to refund 166 billion dollars plus interest.
A Japanese zipper company sued over a 10 percent global tariff in 1971. The warning the 1975 court left behind is what just struck down Donald Trump's tariffs, twice.
•6 min read
1871-1923, Berlin and Vienna • China holds $3.43 trillion in foreign-exchange reserves (February 2026) and ran a record $1.2 trillion 2025 trade surplus, into a financial system that has already produced the post-Evergrande property crisis.
Berlin, May 1873. Beijing, May 2026. The same problem, on a much larger scale: what happens to a country that absorbs more money, faster, than it can possibly digest?
•6 min read
March 1930, Berlin • Romania's parliament topples Bolojan's pro-EU coalition 281-4 (5 May 2026) after the Social Democrats walk out over austerity, opening a path for the far-right AUR.
Berlin, March 1930. Bucharest, May 2026. The same vote, twice.
•6 min read
1961 to 1985, Tirana and Beijing • Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te returns from his first overseas trip to Eswatini (5 May 2026), Taiwan's last African ally, escorted home by F-16Vs aboard King Mswati III's Airbus, a former China Airlines aircraft.
Tirana, October 1971. Mbabane, May 2026. The smallest ally casts the longest shadow, until its patron decides otherwise.
•8 min read
April to September 1971, London and Moscow • Austria expels three Russian diplomats on 4 May 2026 over a rooftop 'antenna forest' at Russian diplomatic properties in Vienna, repeating Operation FOOT's structural play at much smaller scale.
London, August 1971. Vienna, May 2026. A drunk KGB officer in handcuffs and an antenna forest on a roof. Two host countries, fifty-five years apart, finally saying enough.
•7 min read
May 1801 to June 1805, Tripoli and the Mediterranean • Trump's 'Project Freedom' (announced 3 May 2026, beginning 4 May) sends the US Navy to escort foreign vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, repeating Jefferson's 1801 convoy gambit.