Editor’s Note: We are republishing this important look at the growing alliance between Russia and China in light of last week’s meeting between Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, and Putin’s subsequent threat of nuclear war.

Just last week I wondered if the growing alliance between Russia and China represents a new “axis of evil” forming in the North and signs of a new Gog and Magog scenario.

Since then, in recent days, a number of events have only contributed to what looks like the arrival of a New World Order in the North aligning with the East.

The new sheriffs in town

When China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi called Russia his country’s “most important strategic partner”and “one of the most crucial bilateral relationships in the world,” he understood that now is the time China and Russia have been waiting for. They now feel confident enough to begin flexing their muscles and inch forward in a move to exert their dominance in this part of the world.

Concerning the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Wang Yi said at the time, “No matter how perilous the international landscape, we will maintain our strategic focus and promote the development of a comprehensive China-Russia partnership in the new era.”

The implications are clear. Russia and China are looking to impose their will over the entire region. What has changed? The US now weakened and lame, these two northern superpowers have stepped into the ring while Europe sits still bloodied from the last war.

It was not surprising to learn just yesterday that now Russia is looking to China for military assistance. Ominous words for those who see the troubling “axis of evil” now forming just north of Israel. The massive armies of China and Russia have already been carrying out joint exercises shoring up a dominant military alliance.

Even in the build up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and as a sign that China stands with Russia’s claim to that nation, President Vladimir Putin met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping during which the two made a joint statement affirming “Their joint statement affirmed “strong mutual support for the protection of their core interests.” What might those “mutual core interests be?” Communism? A New World Order? Regional Dominance? See the official statement here, though the Kremlin’s site is not always responsive these days.

For decades, China and Russia have increased their alignment against liberal Western foreign policy. Now they have achieved a confidence to make it known that there is a new sheriff in town, and that they carry a big gun, something the modern world does not like to brandish, or think we even need war anymore.

China and Russia, the largest two communist countries in the world, have been plotting for decades to form this alliance to push back the now weakened and easily intimidated US and Europe and become the new superpower of the free world.

On Sunday morning, 12 ballistic missiles were fired from Iran on the massive new US Consulate being constructed in Erbil in northern Iraq. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard took credit, saying they were retaliation for the killing of two IRGC officers in Syria during an attack last week attributed to Israel. Iran’s state-run Press TV said the missiles hit “Mossad bases in Erbil.”

The Iranians are clearly testing the waters to see if the US will respond. So far, nothing, and what this says to all the countries in the Middle East, and what most of the world already understands, is that the US is no longer willing to make any significant sacrifice, or military intervention, to stop a Putin in Ukraine, an Iran in Iraq, or whatever new Haman the new world may conjure up. And a Happy Purim to you all!

Israel and the Middle East

It has been dizzying watching Israel try to navigate the tightrope walk between the US and Russia over the war. At first, our Foreign Minister Yair Lapid quickly put out a statement condemning Russia for invading and now again this Monday on a trip to Romania.

Prime Minster Bennett was more hesitant, but then suddenly make an unplanned flash trip to sit with President Putin. No details of their discussion were reported, but a number of things happen right after the meeting which indicate that Israel is teasing a greater alliance with Russia and China.

Israeli President Herzog just returned from the first visit of a head of state in 14 years to Turkey in what has been called “a thaw of the chilling” relationship between the two countries. For context, Turkey sits just below Russia and atop Syria and Lebanon along Israel’s northern border as has been one of Israel’s most outspoken critics finding any and every opportunity to condemn the Jewish nation on the world scene. What appears to be shifting tides of Turkey’s relationship with Israel were surely authorized by Putin during his meeting with the Israel Prime Minister Bennett as part of a quid pro quo to get Israel to stop condemning the Russian invasion. There has even been talk of Turkey returning the Siloam Inscription, perhaps the most extraordinary archeological find depicting the biblical story of building Hezekiah’s tunnel bringing water into Jerusalem.

Now, in the last few days, we hear that the Kremlin is considering holding bilateral meetings in Jerusalem to try and move towards a ceasefire and perhaps even resolve the Russia-Ukraine war. Watch here for updates.

While some have suggested that Israel remain on the sidelines so as not to upset either their traditional allies in the US and Europe, it seems that Israel now has little choice but to try and appease the powerhouses sitting above her northern borders.

After the fall of the Soviet Union, the idea of a Gog and Magog scenario developing in the North seemed nothing more than a distant rumble. Now, it sounds as though things are moving towards a situation where Israel will have to make a choice.

Continue to rely on its traditional partnership with the once Christian US? Or risk flirting even further with the communist Russian and Chinese axis brewing in the North. I can imagine that the Prophets of Israel would have something to say about that.