The absence of diplomatic engagement with North Korea during the past four years has resulted in a more belligerent North Korea, now more aligned with Russia and China. Those who disagree will say we tried, but we ignored North Korea, hoping that a policy of “containment and deterrence” would suffice. Well, it didn’t. We are closer to conflict on the Korean Peninsula than at any other time since the signing of the armistice of July 1953. In the past four years, North Korea’s Kim Jong-un has declared South Korea and the U.S. as principal enemies in their constitution, rejecting peaceful reunification. He has increased the production of nuclear and hypersonic weapons and developed a significant ballistic missile capability, with short, intermediate and intercontinental-range ballistic missiles, including a mobile, solid-fuel ICBM (Hwasong-19) capable of targeting the entire U.S. Additionally, North Korea’s alignment with Russia includes a mutual defense treaty obligating each to defend the other in times of conflict. There are more than 12,000 North Korean troops in the Kursk region of Russia. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy just announced that an additional 25,000 North Korean troops will be sent to Russia to assist with its war in Ukraine. This is in addition to the munitions, missiles and artillery North Korea provides to Russia. In return, North Korea is likely receiving assistance with its satellite and missile programs and energy and agricultural assistance. A car bridge is being constructed across the Tumen River, boosting trade and tourism from Russia to North Korea. In short, North Korea’s allied relationship with Russia is deep and comprehensive.

Illegal migration crisis at the U.S. southern border stem from nationals of close Russian allies Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, a regional axis of evil, which would not exist without Russian support. In Cuba, the Russian military base is expanding. Thousands of Cuban mercenaries were sent to Russia to fight Ukraine. In Venezuela, Russian Wagner mercenaries are personal guards to illegitimate President Nicolas Maduro. On Oct. 12, 2022, Nicaragua was one of only four countries in the U.N. that voted against condemning Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. Nicaragua was joined by North Korea, Syria, and Belarus. How can migrants from Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela suddenly climb from less than 1% of southern border illegal encounters to 20%? Historically, there have been only a few families willing and able to pay to get their loved ones to the U.S. So why have the cartels and ruling elites of these countries helped people leave? Likely on Russia’s orders?the Cuban, Nicaraguan, and Venezuela regimes are sending people to the U.S. border. This is reminiscent of what is happening in Europe where individuals from Russian proxies such as Syrians are the largest share of immigrants. The spike of illegal immigration in the U.S. and EU is explained by the weaponization of migration by totalitarian regimes backed by Russia. They cooperate in this policy, and utilize cartels. The U.S. border will never be secure if these regimes can send migrants at will. We will not allow the Axis of Evil to destroy America and Europe’s borders to weaken the free world.

President-elect Donald Trump has ignited a worldwide revolt against the arrogance of global elites. We are entering a new era of rebellion against the self-serving, out-of-touch political machines that ignore the will of the governed. The world is a mess. Entrenched political leaders and parties are being tumultuously evicted in Europe, South America, the Middle East and Asia. Now is the hour of the world’s discontent. Why are the dominoes of government tumbling so suddenly? One word: Trump. The world has watched with fascination and even admiration at the peaceful citizen uprising in America. The masses around the world are screaming, ‘we want Trumpism here in our country!’ They seem to be saying, “Make Britain great again. Make Germany and Japan and South Korea and Canada great again.” The politicians, bureaucrats and elite academics are horrified. The anger at the political class is boiling over with scalding resentment against government incompetence, fiscal mismanagement and statist directives that snatch away basic freedoms. The masses around the world are seeing the bounce in the step in America in the wake of Mr. Trump’s election. With his message of efficiency, fairness, home rule, love of country and prosperity, his poll numbers have surged not only here but all over the world. It’s a virtual certainty that voters everywhere are going to demand commonsense Trumpian policies in their own towns and countries. As Mr. Trump has said, all leaders should put their own country first. Global government is dead for now. It’s a grassroots “power to the people” movement ― something liberals once believed in.

The select subcommittee, chaired by Rep. Brad Wenstrup, Ohio Republican, also stated: “Throughout the pandemic, the WHO shied away from placing any blame on the CCP. Dr. Tedros even went so far as to praise the CCP’s ‘transparency’ during the crisis, when, in fact, the regime consistently lied to the world by underreporting China’s actual infection and death statistics. Here is one unforgivable example. On Jan. 14, 2020, as the disease spread globally, the WHO repeated a China lie in a tweet: “Preliminary investigations conducted by the Chinese authorities have found no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of the novel coronavirus.” The House report listed other fake WHO pronouncements: “The WHO routinely praised the CCP’s efforts to combat the spread of COVID-19 despite multiple reports that the CCP engaged in a massive disinformation campaign. According to a U.S. intelligence community report, the CCP severely underreported both its total number of cases and deaths caused by COVID-19.” The WHO asserted publicly that China reported the virus outbreak in December 2019 when it did not. “The CCP intentionally delayed notification of COVID-19 and concealed important health information,” the select subcommittee said. Of course, the biggest misinformation was that the coronavirus mutated naturally. This played into China’s wishes and, unfortunately, to the wishes of the American liberal news media, which protected the Wuhan lab as if it were a cherished only child.

China let loose a deadly coronavirus strain that caused a disease known as COVID-19. To date, it has killed over 7 million worldwide. China has gotten away with mass deaths that an ethical country could have avoided. The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic unearthed evidence of WHO-China collusion so startling that one wonders how the Geneva-based U.N. spinoff has stayed in business. Every logical-thinking person knows the virus leaked from a dysfunctional lab in Wuhan, the site of the first COVID-19 cases and home to the Wuhan Institute of Virology. The select subcommittee investigation found that the Chinese Communist Party manipulated the WHO as a cover for its deliberate deception; Mr. Tedros praised China for transparency when, in fact, it had embarked on a deadly cover-up. The WHO ignored an early virus warning from Taiwan; the WHO quoted China’s lies in January 2020 as the truth; China issued fake virus infection numbers. China silenced whistleblowers and gagged doctors, which brought no WHO condemnation; and the WHO issued a March 2021 report on virus origins that was total nonsense. The subcommittee concluded: “The WHO’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic was an abject failure. … The World Health Organization failed to uphold its mission and caved to Chinese Communist Party pressure.” “WHO appeared to protect its relationship with the CCP. The WHO as misinformed, denied access to China, and was used as cover for CCP’s reckless actions.”

While the free world continues to sound the alarm about Russia’s influence in Europe, little attention has been paid to the damage Moscow is causing in America’s hemisphere. Russian state media mixes fact with fiction to create confusion, trigger emotions and diminish trust in democratic institutions. The Kremlin’s false narratives, which appear in Russian state-sponsored press reports, social media platforms and the personal pages of Kremlin officials, influence Hispanic Americans and Latin Americans to distrust the United States and support candidates and policies that favor Moscow. Russian disinformation attempts to exploit Latin Americans’ historical memory of foreign interference and neocolonial exploitation. Latin Americans fear military juntas, and Russian disinformation plays on this as well. The plans of President Trump to introduce tariffs have produced concern in Latin America, and this area, too, is a target for Russian disinformation. In an attempt to create solidarity with Latin Americans, Russia has depicted U.S. tariffs as a tool to damage regional economies and “intensify … covert operations.” While vilifying the U.S., Russia seeks to depict itself as a defender of Christianity. On Oct. 7, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and Bolivian President Luis Alberto Arce Catacora all took to social media to congratulate Russian President Vladimir Putin on his birthday and describe him as a “friend” who achieved “victory” for “social justice.” Russia rewards the loyalty of its Latin American allies by legitimizing their authoritarian measures.

Last year, North Korea successfully launched the Hwasong-19, a solid-fuel Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) that can carry multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRVs) and can target the whole of the U.S. Mr. Kim said North Korea would adopt the “toughest” strategy to counteract the U.S., claiming the alliance of the U.S., South Korea and Japan is a “nuclear military bloc” and South Korea has been an “anti-communist” outpost for the U.S. Donald Trump established a close and productive relationship with Mr. Kim. The 2018 Singapore Summit was successful, but the 2019 Hanoi Summit ended abruptly, given Mr. Kim’s refusal to declare all nuclear facilities. A subsequent DMZ meeting was symbolic but noteworthy, given the strong personal relationship between Trump and Kim. Giving up on North Korea should not be an option for the U.S. and its allies and partners. For 30 years, Pyongyang sought a normal relationship with the U.S., Which would provide North Korea with security assurances, economic development assistance and international legitimacy. An alignment with Russia commits a heavily sanctioned North Korea to international pariah status with no hope of international development assistance. This is not what Mr. Kim wants. Russia’s embrace of North Korea is tactical. Once North Korea ceases to be of value, Mr. Putin will move on, as Russia did in the past when they downgraded relations with North Korea in 1995. An ambitious Mr. Putin is using North Korea, determined to recreate the Russian empire. Hopefully, the Trump administration will make North Korea a priority issue. Donald Trump can use his close personal relationship with Mr. Kim to reengage with North Korea.

The Budapest Memorandum of December 1994 provided security assurances to Ukraine for giving up their nuclear weapons. It prohibited Russia, the U.S. and the U.K. from threatening or using military or economic coercion against Ukraine and to respect Ukraine’s independence and sovereignty. In February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine. The war of aggression continues. The Socio-economic carnage to Ukraine is tragic. North Korea reportedly sent more than 11,000 special forces troops to aid Russia in its war of aggression in Ukraine. This is in addition to the artillery shells and ballistic missiles North Korea is providing to Russia. North Korea reportedly receives $2,000 for each of their soldiers in Russia, while gaining valuable warfighting expertise. This is in addition to the likely satellite, ballistic missile and nuclear assistance they’re getting from Russia. North Korea’s embrace of Russia and its war of aggression in Ukraine was a stark message mainly to the U.S. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s June 2024 visit to Pyongyang for meetings with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un and the signing of a new Treaty of Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, committing each to come to the aid of the other if either is invaded, was North Korea’s pivot to the Russian Federation. After thirty years of seeking a normal relationship with the U.S., Mr. Kim gave up on the U.S. He aligned North Korea to Russia as part of the axis of authoritarian states ― Russia, China, Iran and North Korea. Recently, North Korea successfully launched an Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile (IRBM) with a hypersonic warhead. Not surprisingly, the launch was conducted during Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to South Korea.

One major challenge is European complacency. Protected for decades by American military guarantees, Europe remains fixated on its own parochial concerns. Under Trump 2.0, European trade protectionism is no longer an irritant but a target. The message is clear: If Europe wants U.S. protection, it must align with America’s strategic focus on China. Trump 2.0 has also adopted a pragmatic approach toward Russia. The Biden administration’s policies pushed Moscow deeper into China’s embrace. Mr. Trump’s strategy is different: Russia could be a potential counterweight to Beijing. The U.S. signals openness to recalibrating relations if Russia distances itself from China. This is not about naivety toward Vladimir Putin’s brutal regime but a calculated move to divide America’s adversaries. China understands that America’s greatest vulnerability lies in internal decay. Cultural and institutional fragmentation, exacerbated by identity politics and elite detachment, weaken national resilience. Trump 2.0 sees the clashes on the homefront not just as a cultural battle but as a strategic liability. Addressing America’s internal divisions is as crucial as countering China abroad. Clarity of purpose defines Trump 2.0. The administration refuses to be bogged down in every crisis, focusing American power where it matters most. This is not unpredictability - this is a grand strategy executed with brutal efficiency. The era of distraction, internal decay and strategic drift is over. The world must now reckon with a reality Washington’s elite long ignored: The battle for global dominance is centered on China.

The battle against China is now an all-of-government effort, reaching into every domain of national power - economic, military, diplomatic and ideological. Every major foreign policy decision from this administration must be understood in this context. This strategic clarity is evident in early initiatives: In Panama, China has spent decades infiltrating Panama’s infrastructure, securing control over one of the world’s critical shipping arteries. Trump 2.0 is reversing this, countering the Belt and Road Initiative and reclaiming U.S. influence. Greenland, a key chokepoint for China’s long-range strike capabilities and a vast island rich in rare earth minerals is strategically vital. Trump 2.0 reinforces continental security, preventing China from leveraging supply chains against U.S. interests. The days of China exploiting tariff exemptions and transshipping cheap goods through Mexico and Canada - and through many other friendly countries - are numbered. Wars in Ukraine and Gaza serve as distractions from America’s new strategic focus on China. Beijing knows this and has spared no effort to sustain Russia with financial, technological and military support to prolong the war in Europe, tying up U.S. assets. Meanwhile, China’s $400 billion pledge to Iran in 2021 has emboldened Tehran, fueling conflicts and facilitating Hamas and Hezbollah attacks on Israel, thus destabilizing the Middle East. Trump 2.0 is shifting priorities: Europe must shoulder its own burdens in Ukraine because China - not Russia - is the primary adversary. The Abraham Accords must come to their logical conclusion, with all the major Arab nations recognizing Israel’s right to exist.