The Dictators’ Club uses force, corruption, subversion, degradation, reeducation camps, unjust prosecutions, assassinations, and systematic lies to try to destroy opponents, dismantle free nations, and wage gray and open warfare to realize their expansionist plans. They are not likely to change unless they have to do so.
Reminder on the Nature of Today’s Autocrat Regimes
Moscow and Beijing run the largest military-industrial slavery operations and forced refugee-crises in the world. They do it directly and through proxies among lesser dictators in Syria, Iran, Venezuela, North Korea, Myanmar, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Lebanon, African states, and the Middle East.
Russia and China use the minor dictatorships to cheaply make or provide resources for killing and coercing fellow Slavs and Chinese who seek and advocate for freedom.
There was talk in late July of Kim Jong-Un inking a possible arms supply deal to Russia in conjunction with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu visiting Pyongyang on North Korea’s Korean War anniversary day. Dictator Kim Jong-Un reportedly ordered North Korean weapons factories to increase production days after the meeting with Russian and Chinese officials.
North Korean hackers reportedly breached a Russian missile manufacturer’s computer networks at least five times last year, after which North Korea may have advanced its missile program. North Korea had already been supplying Russia’s war on Ukraine last year, so it cannot be ruled out that this may have been a means of Russia paying for North Korean arms and ammo.
The lower tier vassals of the dictators’ club readily oblige the alpha dictators, seeking money, U.N.S.C. veto support, and patrimony at the expense of their own people. The alphas help the vassals keep their own people enslaved in exchange for militant and foreign policy servitude. Wagner Group and communist Chinese agents wage gray warfare abroad to help that happen, and to expand the alphas’ power, using criminal elements in the process.
Some Factual Takeaways
Russia, China, and their vassal authoritarians are not likely to voluntarily give-up or give-in on global expansion and control plans. Understanding the extent of these goals and the reasoning in autocrats’ leadership circles remains important, however, disinformation by and for intelligence is a routine tool for these authoritarians. Diplomacy must not underestimate the adversary’s resolve or capacity for deception.
Free nations will need to change the playing field and hedge the ambitions of the Dictators’ Club using leadership influence at home, preparation, competition, cooperation, instruments of power, gray warfare as needed, deterrence, and investments in effective government, economic security, and militaries.
Leapfrogging bureaucracy will be essential to timely execute, grow, and reinforce freedom nations’ collective and individual instruments of power with result-oriented (consequential) leadership and governance.
Clearing Out Agitprop, Embracing Evidence & Reason: A public service priority in freedom nations is to clear leadership minds of partisan or agitprop slogans, conflicts of interest, and autocratic deceptions, lies, half-truths, omissions, and history-skewing propaganda.
