For the benefit of the liberal internationalists in the White House who still live in the 1990s, take a look at Vladimir Putin’s visit to North Korea this week. This is another illustration of the axis of authoritarians working together around the world against America and its allies.
Not very long ago North Korea was isolated, subject to United Nations sanctions and a global effort to enforce them. Donald Trump thought he could cajole the North into giving up his nuclear weapons in return for investment and commercial ties. Our sources say he has mused about trying again in a second term.
But today that’s even more of a fantasy. The U.N. sanctions are still in place but are evaded with ease with the help of Russia and China. Mr Putin’s visit symbolises this shift that has been going on for some time and has accelerated with the Ukraine war.
Mr Putin and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un signed a new agreement this week to come to each other’s aid if one faces “aggression.” Both define aggression to include a war they start, like Russia’s in Ukraine.
The details of their co-operation aren’t public. But the U.S. has accused North Korea of “unlawfully” sending ballistic missiles and 11,000 containers of munitions for Russia to use against Ukraine. In return, Russia is propping up the North with money and other aid, as well as technology for advanced weaponry. Especially dangerous is Russian help for the North’s long-range-missile and satellite-launch programs. These could put U.S. space assets and the homeland at risk.
The “international community,” to use a favourite Barack Obama phrase, is as effective at stopping this as the League of Nations. The U.S. response is to issue statements of denunciation that include words like “unlawfully,” as if either the North or Russia care. Russia used its veto at the Security Council in March to disband a U.N. panel that monitored North Korea’s compliance with sanctions. The realistic conclusion is that Russia and China want North Korea as a nuclear-armed state to threaten South Korea, Japan and the U.S.
The dictators don’t agree on everything, and a skilful U.S. diplomacy would look for opportunities to exploit differences. But the first necessity is to shed illusions that this axis is going away. Beijing, Moscow, Tehran, Pyongyang, Havana, Caracas and others share a common interest in creating mayhem that stretches U.S. and Western defences.
Another illusion to drop is that these nations will give up their malign ambitions if the U.S. accommodates them and retreats to the Americas. This is the fantasy of some in the Trump wing of the GOP. The emergence of this hostile axis is a direct response to the perception of U.S. weakness and retreat. More weakness will court more aggression.
The U.S. and its allies will have to rearm, and far more urgently than President Biden and Mr. Trump seem willing to do. The West will also have to stop thinking that global institutions like the U.N. are serving U.S. interests. The U.N. is now useful mainly to Russia and China as veto blockades against the U.S., and to Iran and Hamas as a forum for hostility to Israel.
The International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice are now as intent on prosecuting leaders of free countries as they are marauding dictators. The G-20 forum, meanwhile, is increasingly being used by left-wing governments to weaken U.S. economic interests.
The “collective security” of the West will have to come from alliances like NATO, the AUKUS accord and the Quad in the Indo-Pacific. The US will have to use its economic clout, open trade, and soft power to court the global South against the money and debt traps offered by China in particular.
Perhaps most important, the U.S. will have to stop solely playing defence and start looking to exploit vulnerabilities within the new axis. This means supporting sources of opposition within these countries, and pushing against their weakest links. This is what the Reagan Doctrine did against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan and Eastern Europe.
The Biden Administration has behaved as if the world still wants to play by post-Cold War rules. The result is growing disorder and the menacing ambitions of anti-American states. If Mr. Trump has a better response than saying there were no wars when he was President, the American people would love to hear it.
The Wall St Journal
More Coverage
How years of planning, staff are helping the Getty Museum survive an inferno
The J. Paul Getty Museum’s survival against daunting odds is emerging as a near-miraculous beacon of disaster preparedness as the Los Angeles fires continue to wreak havoc.
‘Same spot!’: is a small New Year’s morning blaze connected to the Los Angeles fire disaster?
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is investigating the cause of the still-raging Palisades fire.