New Delhi, Sept. 26 -- Quite possibly both Donald Trump and Xi Jinping felt like winners at the end of their meeting in Washington. Each new display of pomp and pageantry-and there were many over the course of the three-day state visit-was crafted to flatter the dignity of the American and Chinese leaders. It was harder to detect substantive achievements from this parley between strongmen.

That amounts to a dereliction of duty, and leaves the rest of humanity as the losers. The list of urgent global crises and threats is long. Wars in Iran, Sudan, Ukraine and beyond are ending lives and roiling markets for energy and food. Every week brings fresh reports of AI agents breaking free of human trainers to roam digital networks in feral packs...