Worse Than an Axis
Key takeaways
- Thomas Wright is a Senior Fellow at the Strobe Talbott Center for Security, Strategy, and Technology at the Brookings Institution.
- Why the Informal Alignment of U.S.
- If actions speak louder than words, the four major adversaries of the United States have sent a very clear message over the past few months.
Thomas Wright is a Senior Fellow at the Strobe Talbott Center for Security, Strategy, and Technology at the Brookings Institution. He served as Senior Director for Strategic Planning at the National Security Council in the Biden administration.
Why the Informal Alignment of U.S. Adversaries Is So Dangerous
If actions speak louder than words, the four major adversaries of the United States have sent a very clear message over the past few months. In June, Chinese leader Xi Jinping took his first international trip of 2026 to North Korea, where he and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un agreed to expand their cooperation with no mention of denuclearization. Xi’s trip took place just weeks after Russian President Vladimir Putin made his 25th official visit to China, where he and Xi signed 20 different agreements spanning trade, technology, and economic cooperation. Meanwhile, news reports emerged detailing how Beijing and Moscow have provided indirect support to Iran in its war with Israel and the United States, including satellite imagery of U.S. forces in the region, missile propellant, and advanced drones. These four countries—China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia—don’t have a formal alliance but are increasingly aligning and supporting one another in ways that are materially changing the balance of power and challenging the United States and its allies.