"The greatest of all evils is a weak government," said Benjamin Disraeli, Prime Minister of the UK (1868, 1874-80)." This comment sadly brings us to the weak and possibly compromised administration of U.S. President Joe Biden, which appears to have enabled and empowered the autocrats of China, Russia, Iran and North Korea, all of whom seem to be working overtime to create a new authoritarian world order with themselves at the helm.
Iran, which has already declared a new world order, is, even beyond its accelerating nuclear weapons program, swiftly trying to reshape the world militarily and geopolitically wherever Western nations appear to be losing power (here, here and here). The Iranian regime also appears to be wasting no time indoctrinating it citizens with anti-Western and anti-American points of view.
"Biden has been the weakest president in modern history," stated former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, also one of the current Republican presidential candidates.
"Under his administration, we've had a disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal, an unprecedented border crisis, the worst inflation in 40 years, and an emboldened enemy in China. It's time to retire Joe Biden and make America strong and proud again."
Since the Biden Administration assumed office in 2021, the leadership vacuum it left in the Middle East has led to the increasing influence of China and Iran in the region; the decision by the Gulf nations to dodge the US and tilt towards China, and even to the China-brokered deal between Saudi Arabia and Iran that further sidelines the U.S.
"We're sitting still, and the Chinese, the Russians, Iran, North Korea, and several others, are moving to shore up their relations and threaten us in a lot of different places," former US National Security Advisor John Bolton recently said.
"It's an indication that the Saudis and others are trying to hedge their bets with China and Russia, because they don't think the United States has the resolve and the fortitude necessary to do what they need to do to protect the world against Iran and its intentions. The Chinese have a strategy they've been following. We kind of wander around from day to day."
During the Trump administration, thanks to a policy of "maximum pressure," Iran was going through its worst economic crisis in 40 years . Although still reportedly being crushed by its own corruption and mismanagement, under the Biden administration, Iran's ruling mullahs are freely selling oil and violating sanctions with impunity. The US sanctions are no longer hurting Iran's economy or cutting off the flow of funds to Tehran.
Iran is currently producing more oil and selling it at levels close to the pre-sanctions era to countries such as China, which desperately needs more oil. Meanwhile the Biden Administration, in its first week in office, suspended new oil and gas leases on US public land, thereby enabling countries hostile to the U.S. such as China, Russia and Venezuela to enjoy an economic bonanza that may well have included enabling Russia to invade Ukraine.
With total disregard to the Biden Administration, the ruling mullahs of Iran have continued rapidly to advance their nuclear program to the place where they now reportedly have enough enriched uranium to manufacture five nuclear bombs. "Make no mistake, Iran will not be satisfied by a single nuclear bomb," Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said recently.
"So far, Iran has gained material enriched to 20% and 60% for five nuclear bombs... Iranian progress, and enrichment to 90%, would be a grave mistake on Iran's part, and could ignite the region."
In November 2022, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed:
"Death to America will happen. In the new order I am talking about America will no longer have any important role."
The Iranian regime, now that it is aligned with Putin's Russia and the Chinese Communist Party, would probably be delighted to conquer the US.
China, North Korea and Russia have also been building up their nuclear weapons. China may have even surpassed the United States in the number of nuclear warheads on intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). On February 21, 2023, the U.S. Strategic Command informed Congress that China now has more ICBM launchers than the U.S.
In January 2023, North Korean ruler Kim Jong Un ordered his country to carry out an "exponential" expansion of its nuclear arsenal as well as the manufacture of a more powerful ICBM. Russia has also been upgrading and expanding its nuclear arsenal.
As the Biden Administration has unfortunately created a leadership vacuum throughout the world, its apparent risk-paralysis and feeble leadership seem quickly to be leading to a new world order led by the Axis of Tyrannies: China, Russia and Iran, with North Korea heading up the rear.
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a business strategist and advisor, Harvard-educated scholar, political scientist, board member of Harvard International Review, and president of the International American Council on the Middle East. He has authored several books on Islam and US Foreign Policy. He can be reached at Dr.Rafizadeh@Post.Harvard.Edu
