America and China’s leaders indulge in pageantry as crises mount

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. In their respective military headquarters, the main mission of American and Chinese commanders is to prepare to fight and win a conflict with one another, most probably over Taiwan, the democratic island that China claims for its…