Oil to AI, The Great Game Continues

Two events this fortnight remind us of Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr's wry epigram—the more things change, the more they remain the same.

- PRATIK KANJILAL

On Tuesday, in the biggest antitrust case of the century so far, US federal judge Amit P. Mehta ruled that Google must hand over some of its data to "qualified competitors" in order to dilute its dominance in internet search. And in Tianjin, Xi Jinping, Narendra Modi, and Vladimir Putin made common cause to form what is being thought of as a new front, a counterpoise to Western powers. What binds the three leaders is Russia's need to sell crude and the others' need to import Russian crude for energy security in the world's most highly populated nations.

Most competitions and conflicts have been fought over energy, and history is an evolving map of pathways for the flow of energy and value. So, naturally, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has developed into a global polarization over Russian oil, which could lead to a reorganization of the world order.