Putin and His Partners

North Korean troops are in Ukraine, fighting alongside Russian troops. They are wearing Russian uniforms and carrying Russian weapons. Russians, and their partners, are killing Ukrainians with Iranian drones. Earlier this month, the United States sanctioned two Chinese companies that are collaborating with Russia in the making of drones.

For articles on these matters, go here and here.

The worst dictatorships are in alliance. Putin’s partners include China, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, and Venezuela. What will the Free World do in the face of this? On the answer, a great deal depends.

H. R. McMaster, formerly national-security adviser to Donald Trump, made a good point: Some in America talk of “pivoting” to China and East Asia; but East Asia, in the form of North Korean troops, is “pivoting” westward. “The Axis of Aggressors is coalescing and the competition is global,” said McMaster.

In Britain, Grant Shapps was defense minister in the most recent Conservative government. For the Times, he has written an article headed, “If we let Ukraine fall, Taiwan’s next — then we really will be at war.” The subheading reads, “The West will suffer global consequences if it fails to support the forces of democracy against autocrats.”

This is deadly serious stuff.

• Russian atrocities — with or without North Koreans — continue apace. Here is a typical headline: “Russian drone strike kills teen girl in Kyiv and 5 others dead in missile attack on central Ukraine.” (Article here.) Day after day, Ukrainians face terror and murder. They are trying to save their country against a monstrous invader.

• “Trump blames Zelensky for the war in Ukraine. He rarely blames Putin.” That article is here.

In Kyiv ten days ago, Lloyd Austin, the U.S. secretary of defense, gave a speech:

There are some who don’t understand — or say they don’t understand — what is at stake between the Free World and an aggressive tyrant like Putin.

And I say to them: Let them come to Kyiv.

There are some who say that both sides are to blame for Putin’s war of aggression.

Let them come to Kyiv.

There are some who blur the lines between aggressor and victim.

Let them come to Kyiv.

Depending on the American election, the posture of the United States in about two months may be very, very different.

• The posture of the United Nations? It may be seen in the form of Secretary-General António Guterres:

Putin’s Russia sits on the Security Council. So does the CCP’s China. Iran’s dictatorship would be right at home.

• From the Wall Street Journal: “Russia Provided Targeting Data for Houthi Assault on Global Shipping.” The subheading: “Moscow’s assistance in attacks that are disrupting trade shows how the Kremlin is seeking to tie up the U.S. in the Middle East.” Article here.

Many Americans recognize that Putin is an enemy of our country; many do not.

• Also from the Wall Street Journal: “Elon Musk’s Secret Conversations With Vladimir Putin.” The subheading: “Regular contacts between world’s richest man and America’s chief antagonist raise security concerns; topics include geopolitics, business and personal matters.” Article here.

For many people, all that matters is Musk’s jersey: He wears a red jersey, he campaigns for Trump. But Musk’s relationship with Putin should concern all of us, no matter what jersey we wear (if we wear a jersey at all).

From the Associated Press: “Here’s a look at Musk’s contact with Putin and why it matters.”

• Francis Scarr monitors the Russian media for the BBC. He has shared a glimpse of Russian life:

• Julia Davis is another monitor of Russian media. She provides a nugget from Alexander Dugin — who would be a big hit on American cable, I think:

• With some regularity, I think of a statement that Viktor Orbán made in 2017. A headline from Tuesday reads, “Hungarian FM to join Russia, Syria and Belarus at security summit.” And the article’s subheading: “NATO allyship be damned, Viktor Orbán’s top diplomat will join senior Russian official at eastern rival to Munich Security Conference.”

The Hungarian foreign minister is Péter Szijjártó, who, in late 2021, as Russian troops were massing on the Ukrainian border, received the Kremlin’s Order of Friendship from the hand of Putin himself.

In 2017, Putin traveled to Budapest. Greeting him, Orbán said, “We all sense — it’s in the air — that the world is in the process of a substantial realignment.” That was correct. With the American election next week, this realignment may harden.

• “On November 17, a trio of Russian dissidents in exile — Ilya Yashin, Vladimir Kara-Murza, and Yulia Navalnaya — plan to lead a march in Berlin against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.” These are very brave people. Until August, Yashin and Kara-Murza were political prisoners. Yulia Navalnaya is the widow of Alexei Navalny, killed in prison last February.

It is very important, very meaningful, that these three are leading the march in Berlin. (For the article I have quoted, go here.) Russia is more than Vladimir Putin and his gang.

• Earlier this month in Dallas, Kara-Murza said,

Vladimir Putin cannot be allowed to win the war in Ukraine. Moreover, Vladimir Putin cannot be allowed to have a face-saving exit from this war. He’s not going to stop unless he’s stopped, and he has to be stopped now.