The G20 summit in St. Petersburg last week laid bare the divisions in the global system. The White House made public the list of ten countries which support its position on Syria, mostly Western and Arab; President Putin, at a press conference, named the members of the opposition: BRICS, Indonesia, and Argentina. During the weekend, as the EU foreign ministers met in Vilnius with the U.S. Secretary of State, Germany also supported strong measures against Assad. This week, in Bishkek, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) will be staging its own summit, right at the time as the United States may deliver its strikes against Damascus. It may appear that the world is again split, along slightly different lines than during the Cold War, but with several actors playing familiar roles. This, however, is too superficial a view.

The U.S. military intervention in the Syrian civil war will put the question to the Russian and Chinese leaders, what do they do, not merely what do they say about it. Vladimir Putin made it clear that Russia would continue to support Syria, short of becoming involved in the fighting itself. China’s Xi Jinping, however, has been far more reticent, which has been noted and appreciated in Washington. It is unlikely that Beijing will do much beyond issuing routine statements in support of state sovereignty and non-interference in countries’ internal affairs. Recently, China and Russia have stepped up their military cooperation in the form of joint exercises at sea and on land and new arms deals, but a full-blown military alliance is not in the offing.