India, April 19 -- The real question is not whether middle-power-style diplomacy works; it is whether the world is still structured in a way that allows it to work

Lately, it feels like the world isn't just unstable; it's becoming harder to even manage that instability. Wars aren't staying where they begin. They spill over into everything else, energy markets, supply chains, alliances, and domestic politics. One conflict quietly triggers another crisis somewhere else. And what's unsettling is not just that this is happening, but that there doesn't seem to be any system left that can actually contain it.

For a long time, global politics, however messy, still operated within some structure. Big powers competed, but there were limits. Inst...