China's Resource Risks

Massive anti-regime protests in Iran and recent diplomacy concerning North Korea provide an opportunity to revisit the “axis of authoritarians” argument. Supporters  of this argument see the consolidation of an anti-Western axis in the deepening ties among the world’s top non-western autocrats, especially China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea, especially since Russia’s full-scale war in Ukraine.                The reality is more complex. On North Korea, there’s no doubt that