Such bold moves by America’s enemies are not only concerning but they are made possible by failed leadership in the Biden administration, U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer said on Washington Watch Thursday.
In the grand scheme of things, many Americans may not consider two dictators shaking hands to be big news, Cramer conceded to show host Tony Perkins.
It’s a marriage of convenience, Cramer says, but a dangerous one nonetheless because their common enemy --- the United States --- is projecting weakness on the world stage.
"Because of that projection of weakness," the Senator said, "I believe they feel emboldened, but they also feel emboldened by the fact that they feel threatened."
AFN has reported in recent weeks NATO is building up its forces in Eastern Europe at the same time Russia is warning the West it could use tactical nuclear weapons.
At the same time Russia is threatening to use nukes, NATO's secretary general announced this week NATO plans to take its nuclear weapons out of storage and put them on standby.
"NATO's aim is, of course, a world without nuclear weapons," Jens Stoltenberg told reporters, "but as long as nuclear weapons exist, we will remain a nuclear alliance, because a world where Russia, China and North Korea have nuclear weapons, and NATO does not, is a more dangerous world."
Before his visit to North Korea, the first in two decades, Putin huddled with China's leader, Xi Jinping , just five weeks ago.
Before he departed China, Putin told reporters an "emerging multipolar world...is now taking shape before our eyes.”
The Russia-North Korea treaty describes a "comprehensive strategic partnership" about a future military conflict that should alarm generals in the Pentagon and at NATO headquarters. That is because it states "the other side shall provide military and other assistance with all means in its possession without delay."
With a pact signed by Russia and North Korea, and with China and Iran threatening their enemies Taiwan and Israel, Cramer said, there is an "axis of evil" that is now working together at the same time the Biden administration looks weak.
U.S. defense leaders insist they weren’t caught off guard by the announcement.
At a Pentagon press conference, Major General Pat Ryder told reporters there is "no surprise" that Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un have been developing a relationship.
"It is something we’re going to take seriously," he said, "and something we’re going to continue to monitor."
While the U.S. monitors Russia and North Korea, Russia is watching other countries, too.
Putin threatens South Korea
After signing the deal with North Korea early in the week, Putin had a message for South Korea on Thursday: It would be a “big mistake” if North Korea’s chief rival chooses to arm Ukraine in Ukraine’s war against Russia.
If that happens, Russia “will make decisions which are unlikely to please the current leadership of South Korea,” Putin told reporters.
Bob Maginnis, senior fellow for national security at the Family Research Council, told AFN that North Korea is the big winner in the agreement. It means Russia will get its artillery shells, he said, but also Kim Jong Un’s war-making capability stands to dramatically increase.
“My concern is that by (Russia) helping North Korea with technology, that’s going to create a lot more tension with South Korea, the Japanese and certainly with us," he said. "If they can do a better job with their long-range ballistic missiles, and their technology with their nuclear program, that doesn’t bode well for our long-term interests,."
Iran and its 'extermination program'
While they speak of defense, the move is all about power for the totalitarian leaders, Maginnis said.
“This is something Xi and Putin have been talking about for a long time," he warned. "They’re really trying to find something that alternatively is going to suit their best interests and allow them to trade and engage in international relations.”
From The Washington Post via Semafor, new construction activity has been recorded at one of Iran’s most secretive facilities – which could triple the site’s production of enriched uranium. If so, that would allow the country to accumulate several bombs’ worth of nuclear fuel every month.
Former Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman told Israel’s Army Radio recently that Iran’s goal is to create a nuclear holocaust for the Jewish state. He believes they’ve set a target day for some time within the “next two years.”
“We are in the midst of an Iranian extermination program,” Lieberman said. “Israel will be attacked with the aim of destroying it from several fronts with tens of thousands of missiles at the same time.”
Reagan warned about 'cost of weakness'
Cramer, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said what’s happening now on the world stage is an “axis of evil reconstituting itself” much like it did almost 100 years ago in Adolf Hitler’s rise to power in Nazi Germany.
One striking difference in the present and the past, he observed, is that the United States isn’t equipped to respond to the rise of evil.
President Ronald Reagan understood the past and stood strong against communism in the Cold War … not just against Russia but against what Russia believed.
“He said famously in Fargo, North Dakota once that they would take our God from us. Now some people in our nation look at communism as a desired form of government. They see capitalism as secondary to socialism and not really understanding the history.
“We need parents that help remind our young people about the cost of weakness on the global stage and the responsibility that we, as the freest people in the world, have to protect that freedom,” Cramer said. “The United States is not going to be poised to protect itself, much less lead a coalition into a third world war.”
