December 5, 2025: There is a new hostile alliance, or Axis of Evil as some politicians like to call it. The new axis consists of China, Russia, Iran and North Korea.

The World War II Axis was a loose military alliance of Germany, Italy and Japan. The three were not equal. Germany did most of the fighting in Europe, with brief and often ineffective assistance from Italy. Japan was alone in East Asia and the Western Pacific. After an amazingly successful offensive in late 1941, Japan found itself on the defensive after its catastrophic defeat at Midway, where its brief aircraft carrier superiority was demolished. The U.S. atomic bombs, originally designed with Germany in mind, were eventually used against Japan because the Germans succumbed to the combined might of Russia and the allies sooner than expected. The atomic bombs were needed to persuade the Japanese military government that Japan had indeed been defeated, something that had never happened to Japan before.

The new Axis includes two countries that are at war, Russia in Ukraine and Iran against Israel. In both wars the Axis powers are losing. The non-belligerent nations of China and North Korea are assisting Russia and Iran, but not to the point that this assistance would drag China and North Korea into a formal war. Both East Asian powers prefer more discreet and less risky forms of warfare. There are practical reasons for this: all four Axis powers are ruled by unelected governments. Russia is technically a democracy, but Vladimir Putin has miraculously won every election since 1999, no matter how badly he has performed or how much Russians have suffered. The other three Axis powers are dictatorships. Iran is ruled by senior Shia Islamic clergy, which uses their ruthless IRGC/Islamic Republican Guard Corps to keep a poverty-stricken, angry and potentially rebellious population in line. North Korea is ruled by the third generation of the founding Kim dynasty, the world’s first and, so far, only Communist monarchy. The first Kim, Kim Il Sung was put into power by his Russian benefactors after Japan was defeated in World War II. Russia and North Korea have been close ever since. Meanwhile, democratic, free market South Korea has a GDP per capita that is more than fifty times larger than North Korea’s. South Korea is the fourteenth largest economy in the world while North Korea is at the bottom of the list of 180 nations. Officially, there is no data on the North Korean economy, but China, South Korea and the United States know otherwise and the Americans and South Koreans cooperate on keeping track of the North Korean economy.

Only one of the axis powers, Iran, does not have nuclear weapons. The Free world, and especially Israel, are doing all they can to prevent Iran from getting such weapons. Iran openly declares that its nuclear weapons are meant for the destruction of Israel. That might not work out in Iran’s favor. Israel has long had nuclear weapons, and several ways to deliver them. More importantly, Israel has proven defense systems to intercept any Iranian missile or airstrike that includes nuclear warheads. Attempting to use nuclear weapons against Israel might be something the Iranian religious dictatorship would consider a folly too far. We may never know and most of the world wants to keep it that way.

When it comes to going to war with anyone, none of the Axis members is particularly keen on firing the first shot. North Korea, currently dealing with an unexpected outbreak of suicidal activity among their poor and hungry subjects, has sent over 15,000 soldiers and support personnel to help Russia conquer Ukraine. These troops have spent nearly a year in combat and a third of them are dead, disabled or missing.

Iran has sent missiles and drones towards Israel, almost all of which were shot down or missed. There were some Israeli casualties, but nothing to match what last June’s air raid on Iran did. Most of Iran’s air defense system, weapons production facilities and nuclear material for bombs were destroyed. Over a hundred key scientists, officials and senior military officers running the nuclear weapons program were killed. As much as Iranian leaders disparage Israelis as being evil toadies to the United States, the Israelis are never described as incompetent.

China is not looking to attack anyone immediately. The Chinese prefer to maneuver an opponent or victim into attacking China. At that point the Chinese will smite the attacker with righteous fury and devastation. Sounds almost biblical, but the Chinese were doing it before the bible was written. No one is prepared to attack China, mainly because China is the second largest, after the U.S., exporting nation on the planet. Attack China and then live with all the shortages and higher prices for shabby substitute goods. For industrialized nations an attack on China is an attack on your population's standard of living.