By Elena Vasquez, US International Correspondent
September 8, 2025
ROME, Italy – In a fiery editorial published in Italy’s La Stampa on September 7, 2025, columnist Andrea Malaguti decries the West’s decline as a “sick lion” while an emboldened Eastern “fox”—led by China, Russia, India, and North Korea—seizes global dominance. Drawing on the spectacle of China’s recent Victory Day parade in Beijing, the piece argues that longstanding Western arrogance has blinded leaders to a seismic shift in planetary power balances, accelerated by the “devastating Trump effect.” Malaguti’s impassioned call for European unity against autocratic regimes resonates amid transatlantic tensions and a flurry of high-stakes diplomatic maneuvers.
Echoes of Tiananmen’s Triumph
Maluguti’s commentary was sparked by China’s grand military parade on September 3, 2025, marking the 80th anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War II. Held on Chang’an Avenue in front of the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square, the event featured thousands of troops, advanced drones, fighter jets, and nuclear-capable missiles, underscoring Beijing’s military might. President Xi Jinping reviewed the procession alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who attended as special guests, signaling a deepening anti-Western axis. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was absent, but Maluguti includes New Delhi in the emerging bloc, citing Goldman Sachs projections that Beijing, New Delhi, Washington, Brasília, and Islamabad will top global GDP rankings within 30 years.
A hot-mic moment during the parade captured Xi and Putin casually discussing organ transplants and the prospect of living to 150, with Putin quipping, “Today, at 70 you are still a child… We will be able to regenerate ourselves forever.” Maluguti portrays this as emblematic of “necropolitics”—autocrats’ delusions of immortality fueling wars that claim young lives in Ukraine, Korea, and beyond. The parade, he writes, was a “clear message: we can do everything,” with China demanding silence on Taiwan and global markets to feed its billions.
The event also featured former Italian Prime Minister Massimo D’Alema among attendees, alongside Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian, drawing criticism for aligning with “satraps” like Kim and Putin. D’Alema defended his presence in La Stampa, questioning, “Can’t we crush a great power like China and put it at the helm of an anti-Western bloc?”
The Trump Factor and Transatlantic Drift
Maluguti lambasts U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent executive order renaming the Department of Defense the “Department of War,” a move signed on September 5, 2025, to evoke historical resolve amid labor market woes and urban unrest. Critics in the Pentagon fumed over the rebrand, seeing it as inflammatory rhetoric from a leader eyeing a Nobel Peace Prize. The op-ed argues this “contradictory and without fantasy spirit” exacerbates the Atlantic divide, leaving Europe “fragile and divided” without U.S. support.
Italian President Sergio Mattarella’s words—”The world needs Europe in order not to succumb to autocratic regimes”—are hailed as prophetic but ignored, a “voice crying in the desert.” Maluguti questions whether the West still values freedom or views it as a “twentieth-century dream,” urging resistance to the “Maoism of the third millennium” embodied by Xi’s vision.
Broader Geopolitical Shifts
The piece frames the parade as the latest in a decades-long process, from the Berlin Wall’s fall to today’s alliances. Recent pledges between Xi and Kim to “deepen strategic coordination,” alongside trilateral Russia-China-North Korea military exercises, suggest an inevitable escalation. India, while not formally allied with Pyongyang, is pulled in via economic forecasts and BRICS ties, challenging U.S.-led order.
Maluguti invokes Nietzsche’s abyss warning and Erik Larson’s In the Garden of Beasts to caution against fascist fascination, drawing parallels to 1930s appeasement. He calls for a European Constitution, foreign minister, and sovereignty transfer to counter the “prehistoric vision” of Neanderthal leaders wielding AI.
Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni is praised for reluctantly aligning with Europe’s “willing” core, despite past flirtations with Trump and Hungary’s Viktor Orbán. Banking Association President Antonio Patuelli echoes the need for unified policy.
Reactions and Implications
The editorial has sparked debate in Europe, with progressive voices urging clarity against radical rights like “Make America Great Again” or Netanyahu’s policies, rejecting unconditional Maoist embraces. In the U.S., analysts like those at the Atlantic Council view the Beijing parade as a “geopolitical shift,” with Xi asserting dominance over Russia-North Korea ties. For Americans, it underscores Indo-Pacific tensions, with implications for Taiwan and trade.
As the word “war” echoes from Brussels to Washington, Maluguti poses a slippery question: Does the East seek “our peace” or conflict? The op-ed warns that without Western renewal, the dragon’s breath—fueled by Moscow and Pyongyang—will engulf freedoms won post-WWII.
A Call to Action
Maluguti’s piece ends on a somber note: the Western lion is sick, the Eastern fox reigns. For Europe and the U.S., it demands a “gigantic and uninterrupted comparison” to reclaim destiny. In an era of autocratic parades and rebranded wars, the takeaway is stark: unity or obsolescence. As global powers realign, the West must decide if values are negotiable—or priceless.
Sources: La Stampa, CNN, Reuters, BBC, Al Jazeera, Wikipedia, The Guardian, AP News