As US allies flock to its summit, Russia links ‘Axis of Evil’ to Ukraine, Middle East

(Originally published Oct. 25 in “What in the World“) Washington finally has evidence that the “Axis of Evil” is supporting the “Axis of Resistance.”

Citing two unnamed European defense officials, The Wall Street Journal says that Moscow provided targeting data that Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen used in their attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea. The data was passed to the Houthis through Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, members of which were working with the Houthis in Yemen.

Russia’s motive in helping the Houthis isn’t just about disrupting the trade of nations that imposed economic sanctions for its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, or some quid pro quo with a nation selling it missiles and drones. According to the Journal, it’s part of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s effort “to undermine the U.S.-led Western economic and political order.” So, in addition to Tehran and Pyongyang providing Russia with weapons (and now even elite troops from North Korea) in Ukraine, Russia is reciprocating by providing technological assistance for North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, and technical assistance for Iran’s “axis of resistance” against Israel.

Russia is reportedly deploying the North Koreans to Kursk, in hopes of expelling Ukrainian forces that invaded the Russian province in early August in a failed attempt to divert Russian forces from the front line in Ukraine.

Washington’s narrative would seemingly be lent credence by the fact that its bogeymen attended a summit this week in the Russian city of Kazan. There was Putin, shaking hands with China’s President Xi Jinping and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. All that was missing was a white Persian cat and a monocle to complete the Flemingesque spectre.

But what’s this? Also in Kazan was the Prime Minister of India and member of the U.S.-led Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, Narendra Modi. And Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the President of Turkey, proud owner of new, U.S.-made F-16s and a charter member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Turns out this is an annual summit of the BRICS, the once-rising economic powerhouses that posed a threat to the U.S.-led economic order: Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. Originally just an acronym dreamed up in 2001 by Wall Street to sell risky, emerging-market stocks, the group assumed political life in 2006 as its leaders sought to marshal global investment and, then, find a way to crack U.S. economic, financial, political, and military hegemony.

The acronym Brics was coined back when we believed economic wealth was the handmaiden of democracy. Rising wealth would create a middle class whose members would increasingly demand freedom and individual rights. Politicians (and their rich patrons) would have no choice but to yield to such demands. Alas, that theory has proved depressingly naive, and nowhere more than in the country that claims to be its champion—the United States, where democratic freedoms are being eroded by popular vote. Rising wealth only created gaping economic divisions, leaving the middle class bobbing in the distance as a new class of super-rich surged ahead, and gave rise to not only a wave of violent religious fundamentalism, but also a global backlash of economic and cultural populism that has thrust right-wing, xenophobic politicians to the fore in a way not seen since the Great Depression.

So, we are supposed to believe that the Brics are global pariahs, peddling not just an economic challenge, but a dark and dangerous, global authoritarian plot. But there were some other surprising faces at the summit, too, like U.S. allies Egypt, and the U.A.E., which just joined the group. Saudi Arabia, another U.S. client, also attended. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand all want to join the club. The participation of nations whose governments the U.S. supports with weapons sales and where it stations troops muddies Washington’s efforts to paint the world in black and white—about freedom vs. tyranny, as opposed to the efforts of one nation to stymie challenges to its dominance. But that won’t stop it from trying.