The inflated threat of the ‘Axis of authoritarianism’

As U.S. foreign policy has adjusted to the accelerating trend toward multipolarity in recent years, the rise of a so-called Axis of Authoritarianism has often been touted as a significant threat to U.S. interests and the rules-based global order. But recent events demonstrate that this supposed axis is hardly coherent, if not largely a myth.

When Israel and the United States bombed Iran in June, neither Russia nor China lifted a proverbial finger to defend their supposed allies in Tehran. And when U.S. forces carried out an audacious raid on Caracas last weekend, forcibly removing President Nicolas Maduro from Miraflores Palace and rendering him to New York, China and Russia again remained largely on the sidelines. That was despite Maduro’s earlier pleas for them to intervene.

A recent Wall Street Journal article suggested that the axis is “sitting out” President Donald Trump’s attacks on Venezuela because it is “depleted by the war in Ukraine and preoccupied with trade negotiations.” The reality is less complicated: there is no “axis” to begin with.