Only a few weeks ago, a new intellectual superstition was flourishing in the West: the “Global South.” A phrase long deployed by left-leaning institutions and individuals had attracted, with stunning speed, wide fascination among mainstream politicians and journalists in Europe and the US.

Bestowing unprecedented attention on the summit of BRICS countries in South Africa and the G-20 conclave in India, the Western press was full of speculation about whether India or China would lead the Global South. President Joe Biden made his own preferences clear by strenuously wooing Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a self-proclaimed advocate for the Global South. The Biden administration drew up various schemes involving India in alliances with Israel and rich Arab countries, aimed in part at stemming Chinese influence.