For context, I am currently staying in New Delhi. And during Putin’s recent visit to India, the city took on a charged, contemplative mood. Conversations among colleagues and clients kept circling back to a familiar question: Is the world finally tilting away from the United States and toward a BRICS bloc? Well, while Putin was in town, I attended a talk hosted by the Chintan Research Foundation that explored the state of India-Russia relations and the shifting dynamics inside a BRICS / Eurasian Economic Union grouping that continues to expand and evolve. The timing made the discussion feel especially immediate.

Sitting there, I understood why so many people ask whether the United States is losing its grip. I hear the fear frequently from colleagues and clients. They see BRICS expanding. They see the headlines about de-dollarization. They watch policymakers spar over sanctions, AI, and global rules. And they wonder whether the world is moving into a new era where the dollar stumbles and a coalition of emerging economies seizes the strategic high ground.