In the run-up to the Asia-Pacific war, the US is trying to isolate the People’s Republic of China with its policies. While doing this, it does not neglect to suppress the Russians. For some reason, they are extremely afraid of the Russians. Perhaps this is because the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) reported two years ago that the Havana Syndrome is a global campaign by a hostile power targeting US diplomats and spies.
It is not that the People’s Republic of China is not on its guard. The PRC is also using its military and internal security forces as a traditional means of projecting strategic land power in the Indo-Pacific and Central Asia. There is no doubt, however, that the Chinese economy is struggling due to the problems caused by the pandemic. After Chinese President Xi Jinping ended the country’s zero-COVID policy, most economists expected growth to pick up, but this never materialized and deeper problems emerged.
China’s foreign policy today shows a closer alignment with Russia. Beijing is also intensifying its cooperation with the rising powers of the Global South and deepening its confrontational anti-American and generally anti-Western position. Chinese President Xi Jinping has made Russia its most important strategic partner.
It is also using the Belt and Road Initiative and other economic and political tools at its disposal to draw the Global South into China’s orbit and expand its influence in the United Nations. The currently dominant pro-Russian faction among China’s ruling elite rejects any measures that resemble Western values and governance systems. Harmony with Russia is a stated priority of Chinese foreign policy.
China and Russia: one offense and one reconciliation!…
Bilateral contacts between the Russian Federation and North Korea intensified in the second half of 2023 in the aftermath of the Ukraine War. In September, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visited Russia and met with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Vostochny Cosmodrome on September 13. In October, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov visited North Korea.
With such bilateral contacts, Russia wants to strengthen its hand against the United States and the People’s Republic of China ahead of the Asia-Pacific War. “But what about China? Because the relations between Moscow and Beijing are far from being a ‘homogeneous bloc’ due to the long-standing border disputes between Russia and China.
The two countries have often clashed since they established their first major diplomatic contacts in 1689. In the late 1850s, Russia seized a significant swathe of northern China, Xinjiang in 1871 and Manchuria in 1900. In the 21st century, there have been numerous clashes between the two countries.
SVR Director Sergei Naryshkin in North Korea
Putin has deepened ties with North Korea since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and the US and its allies have condemned North Korea’s significant missile deliveries to Russia to aid its war effort. Both Russia and North Korea have repeatedly rejected the criticism. Moscow says it will develop ties with countries it wants and that its cooperation with Pyongyang does not contravene international agreements.
A Russian delegation led by Sergei Naryshkin, Director of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, recently visited the North Korean capital Pyongyang. The visit began on March 25 and ended a day ago. Naryshkin met with North Korean Minister of State Security Lee Chang De. The Russian delegation also held talks with employees of the country’s Ministry of State Security.
The sides briefed each other on the current international and regional situations surrounding the Korean Peninsula and Russia, and also broadly and seriously discussed business issues to further strengthen cooperation in response to the growing espionage and intrigues of hostile forces.
Sergei Naryshkin’s contacts with North Korea are not coincidental in terms of timing. With tensions rising on the Korean Peninsula, where US-backed South Korea is arming Ukraine and Poland and North Korea is sending artillery shells to Russia, the danger of a new war in the Asia-Pacific is growing. This danger underlies Beijing’s decision to forge closer military ties with Moscow, at least for now.
The Korean Peninsula is the only continental element of the US military presence in East Asia. In addition, as a US ally, South Korea significantly strengthens American military power in the Pacific.
What did Sergei Naryshkin want from the North Koreans?
Sergei Naryshkin prefers to avoid foreign contacts unless he has to travel abroad. Because of this characteristic, Sergei Naryshkin’s contacts during his visit to Pyongyang could have an extraordinary mission. He doesn’t like to be in front of the camera like we do. As for what Naryshkin wants from the North Koreans?
Zelensky claims that 180,000 Russian soldiers were killed and tens of thousands wounded. A US intelligence report stated that 315,000 Russian soldiers were killed or wounded in the war in Ukraine. Western news agencies like to exaggerate Russian casualties. Russia has largely exhausted its human resources in the Ukraine war.
In particular, the insistence of France, the leader of the Weimar Three, on supplying troops and ammunition to Germany, Poland and Ukraine has led the Russian authorities to take certain security measures. In this context, Russian intelligence officer Naryshkin made a request to his North Korean counterparts for the supply of soldiers and weapons needed by the Russian army.
In the very near future, just as European soldiers are fighting in the ranks of the Ukrainian army against Russia, North Korean soldiers will fight on the Ukrainian front against the United European Army. After a short period of preparation, their deployment to the front is imminent. In addition to the demand for troops, the logistics of supplies, especially missiles and drones, will be realized as soon as possible.
US presidents’ interest in North Korea!
If in 2017 the North Korean leader was seen by the West as a “dwarf with missiles” leading a rogue state subject to sanctions, in 2018, at the summit in Singapore, D. Trump called him a “respected president”. This praise was undoubtedly motivated by a strategy to curb North Korea’s alliance with the People’s Republic of China.
US presidents’ interest in North Korea is not new. The US has initiated a “policy of appeasement” towards North Korea. In 1994, former President J. Carter visited Pyongyang and met Kim Il Sung, after which the two countries signed a Framework Agreement in Geneva to resolve the nuclear crisis on the Korean Peninsula.
In exchange for the freezing of North Korea’s nuclear program, not only the construction of two light water nuclear reactors in that country and the supply of American fuel oil for North Korean thermal power plants, but also the normalization of political relations between Washington and North Korea.
However, China views the balance of power in Northeast Asia primarily from the perspective of its conflict with the United States. Under these circumstances, keeping North Korea afloat is of strategic value to China. Moreover, China does not see North Korea’s nuclear program as an immediate threat to itself. North Korea’s nuclear weapons are perceived primarily as a problem for the United States and its allies.
The Russians are preparing for the European War!…
Many military analysts liken the current Russia-Ukraine war to the Western Front of the First World War. Satellite images show vast Russian trenches along the 700-mile front, with miles of land mines and fortifications.
Just like the photographs and documentary film footage depicting the First World War, so are the gray landscapes of gnarled trees and mud craters caused by artillery shelling, and the pictures of soldiers standing guard in the bleak trenches, drenched and shivering in the cold, recalling scenes from more than a century ago.
Based on this historical analogy, observers conclude that the current Ukrainian counter-offensive is doomed to failure and that the war is moving step by step towards an inevitable stalemate.
On the one hand, Vladimir Putin has revised the war objectives downwards. The aim is no longer the overthrow of Ukrainian power, which would mean the capture of Kiev, but the control of Luhansk and Donetsk in the Donbass and Zaporizhia and Kherson in the south. On the other hand, the limit that the West has set for Ukraine is not to extend the war zone into Russian territory because of the threat of nuclear weapons by V. Putin, who does not allow a deep strike on Russian forces.
The Weimar Three in particular are concerned that Kiev is too late to build the strong defenses needed to stop the Russian offensive. In their frontline reports, NATO military experts underline the need for Ukrainian troops to strengthen their defensive lines in the face of Russian aggression.
But it’s not that easy.
Why?
Because Ukraine does not have enough mines for new fortifications, nor enough mobilized troops to place them properly along the front line. Taking advantage of the situation, Paris has long since sent fighting ground troops to Ukraine.
The French are building a Majino Line in Ukraine!…
Unbiased intelligence reports indicate that French military technical experts are building “more than 1000 kilometers” of defense lines on the front line in Ukraine. The French consider themselves very competent in this field. The Majino Line, whose construction dates back to the First World War and was intended to prevent the invasion of France by Germany, consisted of circular main structures called fortresses.
Passage between these structures was provided by special tunnels. Thus, the entire defense line formed a linear and uninterrupted line. All this group of structures had their own special air purification system and special communication systems. In addition, special shelter structures were also prepared for the accommodation of the military units assigned to these fortresses.
In particular, the 75, 81 and 135 mm artillery batteries and their specially designed turrets, special tank ditches and artificial water channels were used to create a very complex protection scheme. Special underground ammunition dumps were developed for all the weapons, as well as special generators to generate the necessary energy. But this concrete-steel mixture was not enough to stop the Nazi army. It was breached by German forces in 1940.
But there is another dimension to frontline fortification. To hold such a wide front line, the Ukrainian army needs armored personnel carriers. The French army is currently replacing the old VAB armored personnel carriers, which entered service in 1979, with a new generation of armored vehicles. In this context, large quantities of this old equipment, which is still operational, are going directly to Ukraine.
These vehicles will play an important role in maintaining the mobility of troops on a front line of more than 1,000 kilometers. VABs are not battle tanks, but are mainly used for reconnaissance and rapid deployment of units in the field. Capable of speeds of up to 90 km/h, it is hoped that these vehicles will help strengthen the Ukrainian army’s capability against Russia. France is also providing Ukraine with more anti-aircraft missiles. Of course, it’s not doing it for nothing.
The Russians had similarly established the defense line on the initiative of Russian General Sergey Surovikin, who served as commander of the Joint Forces Group in the Special Military Operations Area from October 2022 to January 2023.
The Russian military accelerated the construction of the Surovikin line before the NATO-backed United European Army fortified the Ukrainian defense line. Who knows if the Black Sea contractors with Beshtepe referees are already on their way to get tenders?
In the end, Russia’s “long lines of defense” stopped Ukraine’s counterattack.
The depth of the fortification lines built by Moscow, as well as the Ukrainian army’s lack of men and ammunition, are forcing Ukraine to adopt a defensive strategy.
Signed on February 16, the bilateral agreement between Paris and Kiev on “France’s long-term support for Ukraine” allows the use of French military and technical equipment in the construction of this line. It also includes provisions to counter Russian aggression and to provide Ukraine with “up to 3 billion euros” in additional military aid.
France seems to be seriously obsessed with Russia.
They would drown the Russians in a spoonful of water if they could.
One can’t help but ask, “where is the bitterness coming from?” Russian penetration into former French colonies in Africa may be the biggest factor. General Pierre Schill, the French Chief of Staff, says that 20,000 French troops have mobilized in 30 days. “The military force will be organized according to needs: parachute brigade, infantry, artillery, engineers”.
A battalion of around 800 French soldiers is deployed in Cincu, Romania. France provides multinational command of NATO troops. Their mission: Securing Europe’s eastern flank and preventing the spread of conflict in border countries.
Further north in Europe, fighter jets are being deployed to Lithuania to protect the Baltic states against the Russians. More than 2,000 French troops are deployed on the eastern flank of Europe, according to the Ministry of the Armed Forces. From February 29 to March 14, Exercise Dragon 24 mobilized 4,500 troops and 900 vehicles from nine countries to Poland in live-fire exercises. NATO has not held such a major exercise since 1999.
The French are blackmailing the Russians militarily!…
The idea of a European Army has gotten nowhere since it was first floated in the 1950s, but it continues to raise its head. Now, as Europe faces the urgent need to strengthen its defenses against neo-imperialist Russia, which is trying to reshape the continent’s post-Cold War order through war, the idea of a common army is once again circling European capitals.
With the recent publication of the European Union’s defense industrial strategy and the plan to appoint a European commissioner for defense, one might conclude that the idea of an EU military and defense policy could finally become a reality. But as in the past, this is a dead end.
France wants Russia not to confront it in Africa. When it starts the process of returning to its former colonies, it wants the Russians not to stand in its way. It also does not hide its discomfort with Russia’s military bases in Syria. It also opposes Russia’s domination of Lebanon through Syria.
“There are less than 1,500 kilometers (distance) between Strasbourg and Lviv,” Macron said, adding that the war is now on European soil. French President Emmanuel Macron says Europe’s credibility will be at zero if Russia, which he describes as a rival, wins the Ukraine-Russia war.
France’s plan for a military operation over Ukraine to corner Russia is, to a large extent, a form of blackmail against the Kremlin. However, Paris also foresees that Moscow could turn its gas supplies into an energy security crisis. In this context, French Economy and Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire announced that they see a high probability of a complete cut-off of natural gas from Russia and that they are planning against it.
Fear is useless!
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