Groong Links:
Guest:
- Dr. Gilbert Doctorow, Author of - War Diaries. Volume 1
Topics:
SCO Summit in Tianjin, China China-India Thaw Power of Siberia Gas Pipeline What’s in it for Armenia?
Episode 469 | Recorded: September 4, 2025
Show Notes
Show Notes
In this Conversations on Groong episode, we speak with Dr. Gilbert Doctorow about the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit held in Tianjin, China, on August 31–September 1, 2025. We cover the summit’s outcomes, China–India relations, Russia’s energy pivot, Victory Day commemorations, and what the SCO means for Armenia.
Topics Covered
- The SCO Summit in Tianjin and the shift toward multipolarity
- Armenia’s blocked membership bid and the India–Pakistan dynamic
- Victory Day commemorations in China and Trump’s TruthSocial reaction
- The symbolism of Xi–Modi’s meeting and whether the U.S. has “lost” India
- Russia’s Power of Siberia-2 pipeline and its impact on Europe and Asia
- What’s ni it for Armenia?
Key Questions Discussed
- How has the SCO evolved from a security forum into an economic and political bloc?
- What stood out in Tianjin as genuine turning points in global governance?
- How do Armenia and Azerbaijan fit into the SCO when each is blocked by rivals?
- What does Victory Day signify in Chinese political culture, and how does Trump’s framing play into U.S. domestic politics?
- Has the U.S. truly “lost” India, or is India leveraging all sides?
- What balance emerges if India joins Russia and China at the SCO core?
- How does the Power of Siberia-2 pipeline reshape Russia’s energy map, Europe’s exclusion, and Asia’s future supply?
Links Referenced During The Show
- A New Chapter in Global Governance: The 2025 SCO Summit and the Rise of Multipolarity (World Affairs in Context, Lena Petrova)
- China’s SCO Summit Highlights West’s Growing Ideological Isolation (Simplicius)
- The Dawning of a New World Order (Glenn Diesen)
- Financial Times: Russia says China has agreed vast new Siberia gas pipeline
- Financial Times: A China-Russia sweetheart gas deal could upset US energy exporters
- War Diaries. Volume 1: The Russia-Ukraine War, 2022-2023 (War Diaries. The Russia-Ukraine War) - by Dr. Gilbert Doctorow
Wrap-up
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Guests
Gilbert Doctorow
Dr. Gilbert Doctorow is a professional Russia watcher of Russian affairs going back to 1965. He is a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College (1967), a past Fulbright scholar, and holder of a Ph.D. with honors in history from Columbia University (1975).
After completing his studies, Mr. Doctorow pursued a business career focused on the USSR and Eastern Europe. For twenty-five years he worked for US and European multinationals in marketing and general management with regional responsibility.
From 1998-2002, Doctorow served as the Chairman of the Russian Booker Literary Prize in Moscow. Since 2008, Mr. Doctorow has been regularly publishing analytical articles about Russia-U.S.-EU relations on the internet. From this material he produced six books of essays, the most recent of which is the just published War Diaries. He also is the author of a two-volume set of Memoirs of a Russianist: From the Ground Up and Russia in the Roaring 1990s. A Russian edition of the Memoirs has been published in St Petersburg.
Doctorow is a long time resident of Belgium.
Hosts
Asbed Bedrossian
Asbed Bedrossian is an IT professional with extensive experience in enterprise IT infrastructure, IT security, enterprise applications, data center operations, high performance computing, ITSM, ITPM, and more.
Asbed is founder of the Armenian News Network Groong (ca. 1989/1990) and co-founder of the ANN/Groong podcast in 2020.
Hovik Manucharyan
Hovik Manucharyan is an information security engineer who moved from Seattle to Armenia in 2022. He co-founded the ANN/Groong podcast in 2020 and has been a contributor to Groong News since the late 1990s.
Disclaimer: The views expressed by Hovik Manucharyan on the ANN/Groong podcast are his own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of his employer or any other organization.