Russia's Vladimir Putin and North Korea's Kim Jong Un met in Pyongyang this week, sending a message to the world that a collection of anti-West countries is coming together to form a new expanded "axis of evil," as George W. Bush described in 2002. Anne Applebaum explained in The Bulwark's Conversation that the leaders of the various anti-democracy countries are trying to find a position of power where they influence what is happening in the west. "So communist China, nationalist Russia, theocratic Iran, Bolivarian socialist Venezuela, whatever North Korea is — these aren’t countries that share an ideology. ... But they do share a common interest. And the common interest is undermining us. And by us, I mean America, Europe, the liberal world, the democratic world." Read Also: Inside the 'irregular warfare' campaign fascists are conducting against America In Hong Kong, for example, pro-democracy activists are still fighting to maintain individuality away from the Chinese state. Russia is still fighting the Alexi Navalny movement. Iran is being pressured after beating women to death for refusing to wear a headscarf. In 2023, observers called it the fist feminist uprising in the region. All of these "are inspired by and use democratic language. And they use the language of freedom and liberty and rights and rule of law," the Bulwark reported. The only hope that the dictatorships have in squelching the pro-democracy ideology and staying in power is to undermine any language around freedom and the activists along with it, the report stated. "And they have an interest in shaping the debate inside the liberal democracies in ways that benefit them," said Applebaum. "And increasingly, they’ve concluded that what benefits them is the rise of illiberal, disruptive and radical parties, because when that happens, the Western world or the democratic world loses its sense of community and solidarity. It loses its ability to make group decisions." She explained that for them, this is the beginning of a war as a kind of competition, even if the West doesn't see it that way. For the U.S., that explains why dictators are firmly behind Donald Trump for president in 2024, the report stated. "Whether he makes it ungovernable, whether he assaults the institutions so that they no longer function, whether he creates so much division and chaos that the U.S. can’t have a foreign policy anymore. That’s what they want, and that’s what they’re hoping he will do," said Applebaum. There have been conversations about how Trump would impact the Supreme Court, women's rights, LGBTQ equality, and the ability of the government to function at all. Meanwhile, Trump's isolationism would offer an open door to anti-West leaders who are frequently marginalized. Read the write-up here.

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