The volatile world political order currently reflects a clash between an axis of hegemonic dictatorships flexing their increasing military prowess, and an alliance of Western nations, including Israel, the West's sole democratic partner in the Middle East.
Driven by disparate ideologies, the axis includes Russia, with imperialist aims over vast regions, Slavic and otherwise; China, with a desire for world domination; Iran, striving for a global Islamist Caliphate; and, to a lesser degree, North Korea, apparently intent on seizing the Korean peninsula, for a start.
The reason for the axis's actions appears to be a desire for a new world order with themselves at the helm. They seem to believe that through their combined effort, America's unipolar global leadership in the political, economic and military spheres can be upended.
In digging deeper, however, the driving forces underlying this developing clash of major powers have many facets, one of which appears to be religion, always a convenient pretext as so much can never be proven. If that is so, the ultimate conflict could be between opposing expressions of "truth" for at the heart of all religion, and imitations thereof, is the concept of "truth," which many religions seem to believe belongs exclusively to them.
While major religions claim to be sole custodians of "truth," in autocratic or totalitarian regimes comes the imperative to forcefully assert the regime's idea of religion, of its "truth," often upon an unwilling populace. Associated with such systems is the intention of ultimately establishing global compliance with their beliefs, which sometimes appear to be a "religion" of state supremacy.
In February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine, after having annexed Crimea in 2014. Russian President Vladimir Putin's ruthless aggression in the region seems driven by an imperialist ideology to seize further territory.
The proposed empire would presumably reflect the supremacy of the Russian Orthodox religion, to be imposed throughout the "Russian World." An analysis by Professor Dmitry Adamsky of the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, Israel, as set out in his 2019 publication, Russian Nuclear Orthodoxy, suggests that view:
"Faith, has a high profile in President Putin's private and public conduct and in domestic and foreign policy for it (faith) is a measure of national identity. It has also saturated the Russian nuclear military-industrial complex."
This situation is not surprising as the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, was at one time a KGB officer, who declared that the Ukraine invasion was warranted as a "Holy War."
Adamsky describes "the unprecedented role that the Orthodox faith has played in Russian identity, politics, and national security and focuses on the bond that has emerged between the Kremlin, the ROC, and the nuclear weapons community," and labels this interactive relationship as "Russian Nuclear Orthodoxy."
In seeking to re-establish the historic Russian Empire, Putin has displayed an objective founded on the ambitions of Peter the Great (1682-1725), and the succeeding Communist regime of the USSR. Putin refers to this area as his "Russian World" comprising, apart from Russia, Slavic countries such as Belarus, Moldova, the Baltic states, and Ukraine. Due to their proximity, these regions are vulnerable to Russian military subjugation and demographic takeovers.
In October 2021, at the Valdai Forum, Putin gave a speech described by his foreign policy advisor Sergey Karaganov as "the first major call for reinventing Russian ideology for Russia and the world." Karaganov added, "the main process now taking place in the world is the loss by the West of its previous positions."
Journalist Anna Mahjar-Barducci summed it up: "Putin's speech can be viewed as an ideological manifesto that tries to put Russia back in the center of the world's political map."
Iran is the primary instigator of continuing attacks upon Israel, both directly and by its proxies, which front for the regime: Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and other like-minded jihadists. Notwithstanding Iran's proxies' purporting to redress the supposed injustice of the Palestinian land issue, this is not quite the whole truth. The core issue is not just the acreage, it seems, but the intent to establish an Islamist Caliphate throughout the region and, eventually, globally. Standing in Iran's path is the Jewish state of Israel, whose inhabitants inconveniently refuse to vacate it. To many Islamists, continual jihad appears to go hand-in-hand with the need for acquiring land.
To this effect, the February 2024 issue of the Urdu-language al-Qaeda publication Nawa-i-Ghazwa-e-Hind indicates, "Allah has declared Jihad as the path for the enforcement of religion." In plain words, jihad is required to forcibly establish Islam as the one "true" faith – a global religion.
In September 2024, Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority (PA), which governs Muslims in the West Bank of Israel, referred to Jerusalem's Temple Mount (the holiest Jewish site) as the "exclusive property of Muslims." The site is actually holy to both Jews and Muslims. Underlying nearly all Islamist conversation seems to be the issue of religion and the belief that Islam is to dominate the world, including Jerusalem and all Israel.
After the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in late September, Islamist teacher Tarek Bazzi rhapsodized in Dearborn, Michigan, "Find me a religion that has produced a human being so complete, so perfect, and so immaculate" as Nasrallah. The West, Bazzi added, dared to have the "audacity to point their criminal fingers and project their terrorism onto the soldiers and saints of the Lord of the Universe."
"Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day," the Quran commands Muslims in Surah 9:29. The Islamic State (ISIS) terror group takes this command further by seeking a Caliphate. The February 1, 2024, issue of its official newsletter, Al-Naba, included an editorial boasting that ISIS's establishment of an Islamic caliphate "drew the envy of other Islamist and jihadi factions that had fought against it and allied with Western powers." Although ISIS's proposed caliphate was destroyed by Western forces, "its ideological appeal endures" and most likely acts as a stimulant to other jihadists.
Hamas's primary concern, however, does not appear to be an independent state for Palestinians -- as it identifies with the Muslim Brotherhood -- but a Sharia-based global Islamic Caliphate through jihad. For Hamas, as for the Muslim Brotherhood, a Palestinian state would be merely the first-step in a wider agenda.
The Muslim Brotherhood is the catalyst movement behind the modern global jihadist movement, and should rightly be designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization. Its founder, Hassan al-Banna, said, "it is the nature of Islam to dominate, not to be dominated, to impose its law on all nations and to extend its power to the entire planet."
Hassan Nasrallah espoused the same idea: "We won't stop until every country on Earth is ruled by the law of Allah and the people of Islam, like our prophet promised."
In China, the citizenry is subject to the tyrannical policies and rule of the entrenched Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Fealty to the state is the official state "religion" of Marxist-Leninism and Communism. Certain state-approved religious denominations, however, can officially operate under the strict supervision of the CCP. It is not surprising, therefore, that China persecutes Jews and Christians due to their claims, which run contrary to official dogma.
Should America's fail to counter China's hegemonic aims, the new global landscape would be a repressive, totalitarian, brutal regime (for instance here and here). China's possible advent as world leader would enable it to enforce its Marxist ideology and cause the demise or compromise of essential Western freedoms.
Currently, the US and its allied Western powers face an aggressive China apparently intent on asserting its superiority over the existing unipolar order. A new way of life would be tyrannically enforced.
The Islamic Republic of Iran, together with its jihadist proxies and supporting Muslim nations, directly challenges the Judeo-Christian principled West, and Israel, for military control of the greater Middle East and beyond. Iran appears to be determined to impose strict Islamic Sharia law upon all residents, under an Islamist Caliphate.
The West, meanwhile, due to a variety of weak and compromised political decisions, has tried to prevent Israel from acting alone in direct conflict with jihadists, whether Hamas, Hezbollah or Iran itself. All the same, the nation of Israel, despite nearly 4,000 years of unremitting challenges to its existence, appears to be enduring just fine.
Nils A. Haug is an author and columnist. A Lawyer by profession, he is member of the International Bar Association, the National Association of Scholars, the Academy of Philosophy and Letters. Retired from law, his particular field of interest is political theory intersecting with current events. He holds a Ph.D. in Theology (Apologetics). Dr. Haug is author of 'Politics, Law, and Disorder in the Garden of Eden – the Quest for Identity'; and 'Enemies of the Innocent – Life, Truth, and Meaning in a Dark Age.' His work has appeared in First Things Journal, The American Mind, Quadrant, Minding the Campus, Gatestone Institute, National Association of Scholars, Document Danmark, Jewish News Syndicate, and elsewhere.
Andrew Pridgeon