Latest news with #autocracies
Telegraph
17-07-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Trump may yet smash apart the axis of evil
US President Donald Trump's very public volte face in his attitude towards Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin is aimed at forcing the Kremlin to end the war in Ukraine. Another consequence, though, of the package of measures Trump announced this week is that it could end the toxic alliance of despotic regimes that has formed with the specific goal of targeting the West. The support Russia has received from China, Iran and North Korea since Putin launched his 'special military operation' in Ukraine in February 2022 has brought into sharp focus the deepening cooperation between autocratic states whose primary goal is challenging the West's primacy. China's heavy reliance on Russia for its oil supplies – at a significant discount to the global market rate – makes a significant contribution to funding Putin's war effort. Beijing has provided technical support for Russia's war effort, supplying much-needed drones and vital semi-conductors for military equipment. Iran, too, has provided drones and missiles to support the Kremlin's offensive in Ukraine, while the 'comprehensive strategic partnership' Putin agreed with Pyongyang last year has resulted in the deployment of North Korean troops to Ukraine in support of Russia's war. Trump's announcement this week of a sweeping package of sanctions that will target countries that continue to trade with Moscow will have a profound impact on the unholy 'coalition of autocracies' seeking to undermine the West. Trump's mounting frustration with Putin's refusal to take Washington's ceasefire plan seriously has led the American leader to authorise a new arms package for Ukraine – including Patriot air defence systems. He is also threatening to impose punitive tariffs on any country that continues to do business with Putin's repressive regime if no agreement to end the war is reached within 50 days. And it is the latter measure, with talk in Washington of tariffs ranging from 100-500 per cent, that will send alarm bells ringing in Beijing, Pyongyang and Tehran about the wisdom of maintaining ties with Putin. It is a threat that has the potential to inflict great damage on the Russian economy, severely limiting Putin's ability to continue prosecuting the war in Ukraine. Even more significantly, it could bring to an end the shaky coalition between some of the world's most despotic regimes that was forged more through necessity than any genuine interest in pursuing common goals. Putin's belief that the Russian economy is strong enough to withstand any further punitive measures that are imposed by the US and its allies is based on the failure of sanctions originally imposed against Moscow after the invasion of Ukraine to have the desired effect. While the Russian economy has been badly hit by the measures, with interest rates and inflation well into double figures, it has still managed to summon the resources to fund Putin's war effort. This is primarily due to the steady income stream it receives from countries like China that are willing to buy Russian oil and gas despite the sanctions. Secondary sanctions that target states still trading with Russia, as opposed to measures imposed directly against Moscow, would seriously disrupt this arrangement, not least because it is highly unlikely that any of Moscow's so-called allies would be prepared to tolerate economic hardship of their own simply to protect their relationship with the Kremlin. Chinese President Xi Jinping's response to Trump's latest tariff threat was to insist that Moscow and Beijing would strengthen their 'mutual support on multilateral platforms ' because the two states were 'setting a model for a new type of international relations'. Yet, with China struggling to cope with the end of its economic miracle, it is questionable whether Xi really wants to see his country endure further economic pressure. Beijing's relationship with Moscow has always been one-sided, with China exploiting Russia's economic woes to its own advantage. Many of those around Xi view Russia as being little more than a convenient gas station. Iran, too, will have qualms about standing by Russia's side. Putin, despite the defence pact he recently signed with Tehran, did nothing to protect the Iranian regime when it came under attack from Israel and the US. The ayatollahs currently have enough problems of their own without compounding them by attracting further US sanctions. Even the North Koreans, whose forces have suffered heavy losses fighting on Russia's behalf, must be wondering about the wisdom of persisting with an alliance that causes them so much pain and so little gain. Trump's threat of new sanctions might be aimed at forcing Putin to the negotiating table. But they could also result in the breakup of an autocratic alliance which never had any common purpose in the first place – save for making life difficult for the West.
Malay Mail
22-05-2025
- Business
- Malay Mail
Gold, gas and god complexes: Trump's trillion-dollar desert hustle — Che Ran
MAY 22 — It wasn't a peace mission. It wasn't diplomacy. It wasn't even subtle. Trump's recent tour through the sand-slicked palaces of Riyadh, Doha, and Abu Dhabi looked more like a Vegas residency meets a Davos roadshow. Three of the world's richest autocracies rolled out gold-plated carpets, offering up more than US$3 trillion (RM12 trillion) in investment pledges — yes, trillion with a 'T' — to a man who wears power like a reality show crown and sells the American dream like a used Cadillac with bullet holes in the backseat. This wasn't about regional stability. It was branding. Trump-style. He wasn't exporting freedom or democracy. He was flogging 'America First' as a global franchise — one where the golden arches are replaced by golden handshakes and sovereign wealth funds. And why not start with the Gulf? The petro-princes had the cash, the desperation, and the disdain for red tape. Forget the broken glass of Baghdad or the rubble of Aleppo. This was the soft leather boardroom version of imperialism, where the warlords wear Rolexes and the bombs drop in the form of bond deals and trade concessions. When the house always wins For all its swagger, Brand America has been battered. Its legacy in the Middle East reads like a mafia rap sheet: botched wars, drone weddings, waterboard diplomacy, and a Wall Street meltdown that left half the planet in economic shambles. Add a bloated US$36 trillion national debt and a cultural civil war back home, and it starts to look like a nation selling snake oil with a Harvard label. So, Trump did what any washed-up frontman would do — he booked the Gulf leg of his redemption tour and went fishing for liquidity. But this wasn't just a fundraising drive. This was an audition for Act Two of Pax Americana: the sequel nobody asked for, filmed on the same scorched set, with the same oil-soaked script. Behind the scenes, there's a deeper fear. The Brics bloc is getting louder. China isn't just rising; it's rewriting the rules. And that once untouchable symbol of American dominance — the dollar — now wears a bullseye. Some of Trump's own whisperers have begun suggesting that the greenback's reserve currency status is less a flex and more a ball and chain. But let's not kid ourselves. Washington isn't letting go of that dollar sceptre any time soon. It's just pretending it might — like a junkie threatening to quit while reaching for another hit. Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa meets with US President Donald Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, May 14, 2025. — Reuters pic Shake hands, sell arms, skip Tel Aviv The Middle East is still the great geopolitical casino. Trump wants to manage the house again. He knows instability sells arms and headlines, and controlling the oil tap means you still get to name the tune. His second big move? Reinventing 'Pax Americana' as a gangster's peace — where alliances are transactional, enemies are 'rebranded,' and migration becomes a loaded weapon aimed at Europe's back door. Need leverage on Russia? Label a few Muslim groups 'terrorists' and watch Moscow sweat over its southern flank. Want to rattle China? Play puppeteer with Gulf oil flows and wedge a crowbar into OPEC+. It's energy blackmail meets Belt and Road sabotage. And then there's Israel — the wild card he once held close to his chest but now seems reluctant to play. Trump bypassed Tel Aviv to cut deals with Hamas, flirted with Iran via nuclear backchannels, and tossed a bone to the Houthis without checking if it barked in Hebrew. His silence on Israeli normalization during this Gulf safari wasn't an accident. It was a calculated shrug. A signal. Maybe even a threat. Could it be that in Trump's grand casino, Israel is no longer the house favourite? Maybe. Maybe not. But Netanyahu should probably keep a go-bag near the door. The desert mirage And what of those headline-grabbing deals? The US$1.4 trillion UAE pledge? That's almost three times their entire GDP. More smoke than fire, most likely — desperate PR from leaders trying to buy favour or stall for time. Still, perception is everything in Trumpworld. If the markets believe, then the spell works. If investors swoon, then reality doesn't matter. That's how Trump has always operated — from Manhattan to Mar-a-Lago: turn bluster into belief, and belief into billions. The scariest part? It might just work. So while European leaders shuffle papers on slow trains to nowhere, Trump is crafting new rules with iron-fisted 'reliable partners' like Erdogan and the Gulf sheikhs. Hoping that one day, Xi and Putin will RSVP to the poker game he's dealing. Strap in. It's getting turbulent. What's left behind is a Middle East cracking under pressure. An America grasping for reinvention. And a world order where ideologies are dead and all that matters is the deal. Trump's message is loud and clear: Play ball, or get steamrolled. And everyone — from Beijing to Brussels, from Tehran to Tel Aviv — just heard it. Fasten your seatbelts. Even the almighty Bibi might want to double-check his parachute. *This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.
