The Atlantic Gift Article – America’s adversaries are uniting as its own coalition falls apart. “…The war has exposed the contradictions of the Trump administration’s geopolitical worldview. Under this president, the United States has rewarded Russia, ignored China, punished Europe, and abandoned its Asian allies and partners to an economic crisis that it helped set in motion. During the Cold War, one superpower frequently offered indirect help to the enemies of the other. The Soviet Union supported North Vietnam and North Korea, while the United States backed Afghanistan’s resistance to the Soviet invasion. This dynamic was largely absent from America’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which occurred at a time when great-power competition was far more muted than it is now. But today, conditions have again changed. In Iran, Russia would likely take the opportunity to inflict costs on U.S. forces if the cease-fire breaks down and the U.S. deploys ground troops. China is more risk averse and probably wouldn’t directly help Iran fight the United States, but it seems comfortable with providing dual-use goods, such as missile fuel, which also has civilian applications, and commercial-satellite imagery. Russia’s and China’s assistance to Iran is part of a broader alignment of U.S. adversaries. Since the start of the Ukraine war, Moscow has deepened its ties with China, North Korea, and Iran. China has helped Russia rebuild its military capacity far more quickly than would otherwise have been possible, supplying machine tools, microelectronics, and other crucial technologies while cooperating on drone production. North Korea has provided millions of rounds of artillery ammunition, rockets, missiles, and even troops. Iran has supplied ballistic missiles as well as drones and assistance in manufacturing them. Russia has not received this help for free. In return, it has transferred valuable military technology to each of these countries, including for fighter jets, air defenses, satellites and missiles, and submarines. Moscow and Pyongyang have signed a mutual-defense treaty, and North Korea has benefited significantly from Russian military and economic assistance. Russia and China don’t have a formal alliance treaty, but Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping have met more than 50 times and deepened their military, economic, and technological cooperation…”

See also The Atlantic – Trump Made a Deal That Gives Him Nothing He Wanted “U.S. declarations of victory ring hollow. …More than 12,000 U.S. missiles, bombs, and drones hit Iranian targets over the past five weeks, destroying the country’s navy and much of its military infrastructure. Several of Iran’s leaders and some 1,500 of its citizens were killed, including more than 170 who died in a strike on a girls’ school that was the apparent result of errant targeting. But 12 hours after Trump threatened to destroy Iranian civilization and weeks after demanding Iran’s “unconditional surrender,” the United States agreed to a two-week cease-fire last night while settlement talks play out. Among the president’s initial war goals—preventing Iran from having a nuclear weapon; eliminating its ballistic-missile capabilities; laying the ground for a popular overthrow of the regime; and eradicating Iranian proxies in the Persian Gulf—none have been met…”