The New Axis formation
Over the past two years, the world has undergone a serious transformation. It all began with the buildup of Russian troops on the border of Ukraine. But the full-scale illegal and unprovoked invasion that followed was just the starting point. Indeed, Putin's army's atrocities horrified the public and Ukrainian defenders' courage inspired people worldwide. But the other important effect was that from then on the formation of The New Axis began.
The first modern war in Europe created a significant shift in world stability. By its very nature of challenging the existing world order, it opened the door for all those who had felt resentment and secretly wished to "adjust" reality. As a result, more or less dormant points of tension all over the world are now in the process of reactivation. The Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict, the China-Taiwan issue, the Middle East tinderbox, North Korea, and other potential threats are drawing power from what's seen by aggressors and outsiders as the world's weakness and a carte blanche to remake everything according to their will.
Since then, Russia's efforts to undermine its inevitable destiny as a rogue state have led it to develop ties with other rogue states such as Iran and North Korea. At first it was a rather limited interaction, which then evolved into a barter of technology and supplies. Over time, the cooperation intensifies, bringing us to the brink of The New Axis. Like the original Axis (Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and Japan), these states have little in common. You can call them "evil states," but I prefer a more precise and emotion-free definition: "chaos states" or "chaos agents". They do not share the same view of the world, except for a strong desire to divide and conquer it. They are incapable of forming a true alliance based on common goals and objectives - and the original Axis never was. Each member of The New Axis pursues its own goals, believing that it can use the resources of other members to accomplish as much as possible while sacrificing as little as possible. However, the threat posed by The New Axis should not be underestimated. Despite its disunity and oddity, it is still a bunch of aggressive militaristic regimes trying to create their own cruel version of reality at the expense of a progressive and peaceful world.
Thus, The New Axis now consists of Russia, Iran, and North Korea, with China drifting toward it.
The agents of chaos don't accept order. They want to plunge the world into either medieval bigotry or dystopian totalitarianism, or both. They believe that their cursed version of reality is actually order - the New Order. But don't let them fool you: the fact is that every step toward this "order" is itself disorder.
Hopefully, in return for the formation of The New Axis, The New Allied Bloc is being formed. And that's all the good news for now. The world is going through a tough and unpredictable decade, and in my opinion all the current events are just the beginning. All we can do is fight the chaos, establish, maintain and protect order, and hope for the best.