International | Autocratic alliances

A new “quartet of chaos” threatens America

The rulers of China, Iran, North Korea and Russia are growing worryingly close

Photo illustration of from left, Kim jong Un, Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping and Ali Khomenei, all in profile overlapping and facing left
Illustration: Anthony Gerace

Antony Blinken, America’s secretary of state, was unusually blunt on a recent visit to Europe: “One of the reasons that [Vladimir] Putin is able to continue this aggression is because of the provision of support from the People’s Republic of China,” he said. China was, he added, “the biggest supplier of machine tools, the biggest supplier of microelectronics, all of which are helping Russia sustain its defence industrial base”. American officials are reluctant to discuss details of what they think Russia is giving its friends, but Kurt Campbell, deputy secretary of state, recently said Russia has provided China with submarine, missile and other military technology. Separately, America says that Iran has been busy sending Russia hundreds of short-range ballistic missiles.

Explore more

This article appeared in the International section of the print edition under the headline “A new “quartet of chaos” threatens America”

From the September 28th 2024 edition

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

Explore the edition
An illustration of an orange hand, with a white shirt and black jacket sleeve showing, picking up a US flag-patterned king chess piece on a chess board. Behind are two more kings, one with the Russian flag colours and one with the Chinese flag.

America’s self-isolating president

No, Donald Trump’s Putin-wooing is not like Nixon going to China

British soldiers storm enemy poitions in a simulated attack during NATO military exercises

Can Europe confront Vladimir Putin’s Russia on its own?

An independent army, air force and nuclear bomb would come at a high price


An illustration of a kangaroo straffling a Chinese cargo ship on the right and an American submarine on the left and being forced in to splits.

Australia prepares for a lonelier, harsher world

The country has long relied on America for security and China for its prosperity. Those two pillars are wobbling


Will it be Ukraine today, Taiwan tomorrow?

How Donald Trump’s about-turn in Europe will affect Asia

Donald Trump is junking the transatlantic alliance

Europe has been left scrambling after an attack on the partnership that kept the peace for nearly 80 years

China’s stunning new campaign to turn the world against Taiwan 

Seventy countries have recently backed “all Chinese efforts” to take the island