We understand that the US is on record stating that the newest war in the Mideast is a “defensive war”. It isn’t. The newest war was launched as an offensive operation. It can be, should be, described as a continuation of the ‘Bush Doctrine’, of a pre-emptive war as memorialized in ‘shock and awe’ war on Iraq…
Now comes the Gulf, Hormuz, and disruption of international oil-gas supply lines.
As the month of May 2026 comes to an end, the US war on Iran continues on with strikes and threats, sanctions on Iran and ongoing Israeli attacks in Lebanon, a US shipping blockade and Iranian blockade in the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz. As the costs of war multiply, it must be stated that the Iranian-Russian-Chinese strategic alliance should not be ignored, as it has been ignored in the media reports.
At Strategic Demands over the past decade we have pointed at escalating Russian-Chinese military decisions, many in reaction to US military decisions. The most consequential of these strategic moves are those of a new Cold War 2.0 and Nuclear Arms Race 3.0.
The costs of thr breakdown of nuclear weapons control agreements and spike in spending by US, Russian and Chinese governments on worldwide conflicts and tactical/strategic/command and control is a reality that brings deep and profound costs and dangers.
These costs are accruing as the clock ticks…
We will soon see how the US president responds to an announced ‘MOU’, memorandum of understanding, setting forth a plan for addressing the latest war in the Mideast.
Certainly, the alliance between Iran, Russia and China will have to be addressed in course — although to this point, in the last week of May 2026, there has been little to no discussion of these geo-political realities operating to shape any international agreement.
A larger array of international forces, including re-arrangements in global finance, currency exchange, the petrodollar, the BRIC countries, the outlying ‘rogue’ nations such as North Korea and its nuclear stance and force relations, are all coming into play as a US president pushes an agenda of discordant transactional moves on a global stage.
Read more on this backdrop of larger geo-political realities at The Atlantic:
* https://www.theatlantic.com/international/2026/05/iran-america-attention-goals/687374/
