Russia, China, Iran and North Korea threaten the world order

OPINION:

Russia, China, Iran and North Korea pose an immediate threat to the world order. Each is a dictatorship fomenting unrest in East Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Each tried to influence our presidential elections. Each of them failed.

How ironic, however, that the official Chinese Communist Party news wire service, Xinhua, ran a series of essays highlighting what it described as eight problems with the U.S. election cycle, according to The Washington Times’ Threat Status.

There is no democracy in China. There are no elections permitting the people to elect their representatives and their leader, Xi Jinping. Nonetheless, China criticizes our democratic system where the people make these leadership decisions.

The same can be said for Russia with its bogus elections, Iran with its ruling theocracy and North Korea with the ruling Kim dynasty.

The New York Times published a piece last Wednesday on 10 takeaways from the election asserting that “the relative stability on domestic and international affairs during the past four years is about to be gone, replaced by a volatile president who often operates without regard to national precedent.”

I must be missing something — relative stability in international affairs?

Russia’s war in Ukraine continues into its third year, reportedly with over 1 million casualties on both sides. China continues trying to intimidate Taiwan with naval and air military exercises mimicking a blockade. Chinese naval exercises are an effort to restrict freedom of navigation in international waters in the South China Sea, most recently directed at the Philippines and that nation’s sovereignty over Second Thomas Shoal, according to a finding from the U.N. arbitral tribunal.

Iranian leader Ali Khamenei’s stated goal is to eradicate Israel. Iran’s support of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen is part of Iran’s strategy to confront and eventually eliminate Israel.

The Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, in which more than 1,200 men, women and children were killed and 254 hostages were taken, has inflamed the region, with Israel confronting Iran and attempting to destroy Hamas while also taking on Hezbollah and the Houthis. Efforts to reach a cease-fire in Gaza have failed amid concern that hostilities could escalate and engulf the region in war.

North Korea is now aligned with Russia, with a mutual defense treaty that commits each to defend the other if attacked. North Korea is providing Russia with significant quantities of artillery shells and ballistic missiles. North Korea reportedly sent 10,000 special forces troops to Russia recently to aid Russia in its war of aggression in Ukraine.

Indeed, North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs continue to grow exponentially, with North Korea’s launch of an Intercontinental ballistic missile — the Hwasong-19 — capable of reaching anywhere in the United States. North Korea’s Constitution has been amended to make South Korea and the U.S. the nation’s principal enemies, with North Korea eschewing reunification with South Korea while destroying all roads and rail lines that connect the two.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, now aligned with Russia, may be emboldened to incite conflict on the peninsula. From 1950 to 1953, Korean War resulted in significant U.S., South Korea, Chinese and North Korean casualties. The 1953 armistice stopped the fighting, yet hostilities continue.

The possibility of another war on the Korean Peninsula is greater now than any time since 1953. This time, however, a North Korea aligned with Russia, committed to come to the defense of North Korea if attacked, reportedly has tactical and strategic nuclear weapons, and Mr. Kim has threatened to use them.

In short, the administration of President-elect Donald Trump will inherit a multitude of foreign policy challenges that will require his immediate attention. And based on his first term as president, it’s likely Mr. Trump will personally interact with Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping and Kim Jong-Un in an effort to resolve some or all of these issues.

• Joseph R. DeTrani is the former director of East Asia operations at the CIA, former special envoy for talks with North Korea (2003-2006) and former director of the National Counterproliferation Center. The views expressed here are the author’s and not those of any government agency or department.