There appears to be at least a certain level of coordination going on between China, Russia, Iran, North Korea and Venezuela.
I remember when "Dubya" was ridiculed for his Axis of Evil and it's implication that a long term strategy was at play. Seems like he wasn't far off the mark.
People smell opportunity. And it is not only limited to them. It seems that the hamas attack was very fruitful for Russia and that Putin had met them prior to October 7th seems to indicate hamas that ir could be coordinated.
But stuff is going on everywhere, in West Africa, we are now at three coups with strong ties ro Wagner/Russia. I hear things are heating up in Ethiopia. In Sudan, rebel forces are slowly taking the whole country, in Nigeria a massacre against Christians...No "superpower" is able to control anything.
Here we are in the west with the weight of the world on our shoulders but with only one country really pulling the wagon. And the US is doing its utmost...but little by little we are facing richer countries, weaponizing themselves, opening their economies to a broader choice of countries and we are seeing our influence disminish. At the same time, our poor immigration policies weaken our internal structure.
Dubya made one mega mistake with the Iraq fiasco. He´s unjustly ridiculed for better choices at a tough time for the US. He was misguided in thinking that the whole world wanted the american way of life...it does not. He was misguided in thinking that sanctions could prevent proliferation of weapons...it is not possible: sanctions only helped Iran by removing any control. And lifting sanctions without guarantees like Trump did with the Norks turned into an embarrassing moment for the USA where the Norks unveiled two years later their best and more powerful rocket yet with the Chinese falling on the floor laughing out loud.
In 72, the USA pulled out a masterful move isolating Russia from China after the Nixon visit. At that time Russia and China were not getting along, had nothing interesting to exchange that was not replaceable, and China got its seat at the UN security council and moved up the ladder of powers. The Korean war had ended less than twenty years earlier. It was bold, the timing was perfect, but America´s position in the world was stronger as it was matched by noone on any other level than military.
The years to come will be challenging for us. One thing I am sure of is we will not be able to enforce very long the order we had in the eighties or nineties. We will need to be creative in diplomacy, to track friend and foe better, to choose important fights.
