Have you ever seen the supreme leader of North Korea, Kim Jong Un, grinning from ear to ear? No? Want to? If yes, check him out sitting in the passenger seat of a spanking new Aurus, with Russia’s president Vladimir Putin behind the wheel.* The scene took place last week in Pyongyang, a reflection of the affection between the two men whose relationship has gone from being wary allies to best pals.
Most of us associate Putin with his unprovoked attack on Ukraine, the result of which was a war that has now gone on for well over two years. The costs have been enormous. It is the largest land war in Europe since the end of the Second World War. The casualties – Ukrainians and Russians – tally in the hundreds of thousands. And the destruction is widespread. Reportedly more buildings have been wrecked in Ukraine than if every building in Manhattan had been leveled four times over. In some places, such as the small city of Marinka (previous population 9,000), not one resident is left.
Meantime, Americans have by and large lost interest. In the early months of the war Ukrainian flags were flown clear across the United States. But by now the war has been relegated to the margins of our concerns. Still, we should make no mistake. Not only does Putin remain a major menace, the more he eats the greater his appetite.
In my most recent book, Leadership from Bad to Worse, Putin is mentioned but he is a sidebar. I deliberately chose not to focus on such a blazingly obvious example. But we should make no mistake. Putin is the archetype of a leader who – because he has not been stopped or even once during his entire tenure been seriously slowed – has gone from bad to worse.
The beat goes on. With every passing month Putin becomes more menacing. Only recently he authorized drills so Russians could practice the use of tactical nuclear weapons. Only recently he said he would consider changing Russia’s protocol as it pertained to the use of nuclear weapons. And only recently he implied that small European countries – think Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia – would be easy for Russia either to conquer or obliterate.
But nothing Putin has done has greater implications for the United States – his archenemy – than his outreach in Pyongyang. Putin made clear that while the West might be concentrating on a regional chessboard, Europe, he is focusing on a global one, which includes Asia.
Russia and North Korea are now locked in their tightest embrace since the coldest days of the Cold War. As is usual in such arrangements, each side is giving the other what they want. Putin is getting the weaponry he needs aggressively to pursue his war against Ukraine. Kim is getting the energy and technology he needs aggressively to grow his space and missile programs.
The United States meanwhile has been watching Asia with a wary eye. But not because of Russia. It is because of China that President Joe Biden shored up America’s relations with its allies in the Indo Pacific, including South Korea, Japan, and the Philippines. Still, the West needs to be clear. There is one world leader who more than any other poses a threat to its interests. There is one world leader whose identity is so wrapped up in a victory that he will not, cannot, tolerate a loss.There is one world leader who rules with an iron fist over a country that has more nuclear weapons than any other. That world leader is not China’s Xi Jinping. It is Russia’s Vladimir Putin.
Earlier in his tenure the idea that Putin would send arms to bolster North Korea was unthinkable. Now we know that he will do what he thinks he must to win in Ukraine. Which is precisely why, though he has already gone from bad to worse, it’s possible if not probable that, unless he is stopped by someone(s) or something(s), he will go from worse to worst. So far as the West is concerned there is not a single leader anywhere in the world who presents a greater threat to its political, military, and ideological interests.
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*Aurus Motors is a Russian luxury car company. Putin’s own presidential car is an Aurus, and when he paid Kim a state visit, he came bearing gifts, one of which was, you guessed it, an Aurus.