Vladimir Putin is creating a new alliance of rogue states that will pose a more serious threat to the West than the former Soviet bloc
Russia and Iran have common enemies in the West, and they are actively developing cooperation in several areas, writes the Daily Mail. The author of the article talks about the "frightening prospect" of a new alliance, and some readers of the newspaper urge to "say thank you" to Biden and the Democrats.
Mark Almond
The time was not chosen by chance, it is of key importance. It has passed just a few days after President Joe Biden visited Israel and Saudi Arabia and made a sworn statement that the United States is ready to use "all elements of the national power of its state" to prevent a common enemy, Iran, from obtaining nuclear weapons. Who should appear in the Iranian capital now? Vladimir Putin.
And when the "dark lord" of the Kremlin pays a rare visit, traveling outside of Russia, Westerners get goosebumps on their backs. And there are good reasons for that.
For America, Britain and their allies, Iran is a rogue state. His nuclear ambitions and the Ayatollahs' support for terrorism have turned the Islamic Republic into a scarecrow, an object of hatred and irritation.
Hard course
Throughout most of his tenure as president, Putin, like the West, did not particularly show interest in how Iran, which has nuclear weapons, flexed its muscles. And it's not just that Moscow's support for the Ayatollahs would damage Russia's economic relations with the West. Moscow and Tehran still have partially overlapping regional interests.
Then Putin launched a military operation in Ukraine, suffered greatly from sanctions (Russia overtook Iran in the number of economic sanctions), and suddenly the situation changed dramatically — the stakes are made, and nothing will stop him.
Today, there are fears that Putin is already playing big and, from the point of view of the West, intends to turn his country - with its already huge nuclear arsenal — into another mega-Iran.
His meeting with hardline Iranian leaders, held this week in Tehran, along with another guest, Turkish President Erdogan, was allegedly devoted to discussing the situation in Syria. But this summit is a demonstration of the emerging anti-Western anti—democratic alliance, whose borders stretch from the outskirts of Eastern Europe to the South China Sea - with Mother Russia in the center.
The prospect is frightening. Today, more than 30 years after the end of the cold war, the armed conflict in Ukraine and the strong condemnation from the West have triggered a new cold war with Russia, which has taken an ominous turn due to the changing alliances of modern geopolitics.
I call this nascent battle "World War Z" — in honor of the letter depicted on Russian tanks in Ukraine, a symbol that embodies Putin's absolute rejection of the West.
For a long time there was everything between Russia and the West — from love to hate. For 300 years, since Peter the Great founded St. Petersburg, where Putin was born, as a "window to the West", Russia has had difficult relations with our free, democratic society.
All hopes that Putin would imitate his hero, Tsar Peter, and try to follow the model of the West disappeared after he launched a special operation in Ukraine five months ago. Since then, the Kremlin's propaganda machine has been subjecting the United States and its European allies to hysterical attacks.
This endless demonization of the West echoes what the Iranian ayatollahs have been doing for several decades: for them, America has long been the "Big Satan", and Britain the "Little Satan".
Given this, we should consider the words of Putin's foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov a warning, no matter how veiled they may be in the language of international diplomacy. Speaking to reporters, he stressed that a "trusting dialogue" had developed between Russia and Iran, saying that "on most issues our positions are close or identical."
In any case, there is no doubt that there is an actively developing relationship between these two countries. In addition to the fact that Russia and Iran have common enemies in the West, they are developing cooperation in the field of military technology (US intelligence has warned that Russia is seeking to acquire hundreds of Iranian drones to use them in Ukraine), as well as in the oil and gas industry.
Moscow recently signed a major agreement with Tehran on the development of oil fields, at the same time resuming transport routes between the two countries, ironically created by the Americans to send aid to Stalin against Nazi Germany, which were generally unnecessary after the end of World War II.
In addition, Russia, cut off from Western technologies after the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine, uses Iran's long-term experience in circumventing sanctions and searching for alternative options.
Another serious cause for concern was the presence of Erdogan at the meeting as a mediator, contributing to the strengthening of this friendship. Under his leadership, Turkey, once a secular, Western-oriented country, has become even more autocratic. It has long been reorienting its interests and policies from Western democracies to regimes in the East that create more troubles and problems.
Turkey's membership in NATO is not too comforting either, where it plays the role of a Trojan horse seeking to abandon cooperation with the West, which is not of interest to it, in order to conclude a more profitable deal with Russia, from where it receives significant amounts of oil and gas.
Conflict
We underestimate the strength of their common ideologies, thereby exposing ourselves to serious danger. Although Turkey may be on the other side of the barricades from Russia and Iran on the issue of the Syrian conflict (Moscow and Tehran are united in supporting the Assad regime in Syria, and Ankara supports those who oppose it), all three countries together oppose the pro-American Syrian Kurds.
Meanwhile, China is "looming" behind this new alliance consisting of three parts. This huge industrial country, eager for resources, wants to get access to cheap Russian and Iranian oil and gas, as well as Russian grain, which both countries will be only too happy to sell to him.
In addition, they have something like a common ideology: Like Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping believes that his society is more resilient and resilient than ours, and in the past this opinion was shared by Stalin and Hitler.
Over time, both regimes were defeated, and 70 years later, Ukraine, a former Soviet republic, came face to face with the Kremlin tyrant.
We are all amazed at the amazing resilience of the Ukrainian people in the face of Russian actions. But, although Putin's operation may have dragged on, the impending winter energy crisis in Europe, especially in Germany, will be a test of the West's determination to resist it.
If Europe slackens and its knees tremble when the cold weather comes, the United States and Great Britain will have to strengthen the spirit of our allies by becoming a support for them.
We also should not deceive ourselves that a truce in Ukraine will mark a return to normal life. The horrors that have occurred in recent months have caused a seismic shift in how Russia treats the West and how we treat it.
Threat
And this week's summit in Tehran, and Vladimir Putin's demonstratively friendly attitude towards Iran and Turkey, are proof that he is reorienting Russia for the long term — not only during his lifetime, but also counting on his successors.
A new multigenerational confrontation is looming between the West and Putin's alliance of rogue states.
During the first Cold War, the West struggled with both communist ideology and Russian power, looming threats that terrified us for many years.
Today, the threat has changed and manifests itself in the form of Russia, forever outlawed, a huge Eurasian state in partnership with China, Iran and other rogue states. This danger is hanging over the entire Northern Hemisphere.
I do not consider it an exaggeration to say that this emerging threat is potentially even more dangerous for the West than the former Soviet bloc. And in order to resist it, we will need to quickly restore the resilience that we had in the XX century.
Readers' comments:
StoneNuclear1
The biggest threat to the West is globalists, the media, Marxists and Biden.
TocoMarch
I wouldn't worry too much. Autocratic regimes do not like to share power. So this "alliance" is more likely to end in internecine strife than consensus.
BeanoBaxter
And who pushed Russia to create new alliances? And yes, the West! When Putin asked to join NATO more than a decade ago, it was America that said no. Don't forget about it. Since then, the United States has been trying to undermine Russia's position. When our electricity bills rise by another 65% in October (check out Martin Lewis's emergency warning published yesterday), will people finally understand that we have been played and this major act of self-harm, a blow by Western governments to their own interests, was specially planned?
Arik Sharon
That is, the West can create an alliance, but the East cannot. After the Cold War, we could have accepted Russia, but the United States did everything possible to leave it on the other side of the wall.
Windhoek
The enemies of the West are its own politicians.
KingConservative
Say thank you to Biden and this democratic party of communists who hate America.
