Urooj NazirWashington, Dec. 11 According to U.S. sources, President Joe Biden is pressuring U.S. national security agencies to develop fresh approaches to address the dangerous, growing connections between China, North Korea, Iran, and Russia before Donald Trump takes office.
In a national security memorandum released Tuesday, Biden determined that Moscow is providing its ally with fighter aircraft, missile defense, and space technologies in return for Iran’s assistance with the Russian military effort in Ukraine.
In addition to acknowledging North Korea as a de facto nuclear state, Russian President Vladimir Putin is providing it with technology, fuel, and financial support. According to the government, Russia and China are patrolling the Arctic together.
Reporters were given a rough description of the secret document; however, Reuters has not conducted an independent study of it. Similar evaluations have previously been contested by Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea, who have charged Washington with disruptive actions.
In order to better focus on challenges that connect the four nations that span Europe and Asia, Biden’s new memo directs various branches of the U.S. government to reorganize organizations that are now arranged by area.
The Republican president-elect Trump, who becomes office on January 20, has the option to adopt or reject the strategy and policy recommendations in the memo.
One senior administration official, who wished to remain anonymous, stated, “I don’t think the new team will see anything in it that is trying to box them in or tilt them toward one policy option or another when they sort of look at it.”
The goal, according to another source, is to develop “new options so that a new team and Congress can really hit the ground running.”
According to the officials, the challenges that lie ahead include making sure that any export controls and sanctions imposed on the four nations are implemented in a coordinated manner that avoids potential retaliation from those nations and allowing the US to better manage multiple crises that are occurring at the same time. For example, North Korean troops are currently stationed in Russia.
“We’re now in a world where our adversaries and our competitors are learning very quickly from one another,” stated a government official.
The failure of Russia and Iran to support their ally Bashar al-Assad, the former Syrian president who was overthrown over the weekend, is one example of the limitations to the countries’ collaboration, according to another official.
“This realignment sort of raises for China the question about what kind of future it wants to see and if it really wants to be all-in with this grouping,” said the individual.
