Tipping Point Quick Hits (09.14.23)

An alliance of dictators, disasters in North Africa and Amazon's pay-by-palm tech

“Alliance of Pariahs” Between Kim-Jong Un and Putin

Two of the world’s most despised and isolated leaders met this week for a summit at a Russian space facility in the country’s far east, where Vladimir Putin showed off his technology in exchange for potential military help from North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.

Yesterday, Kim Jong Un pledged his “full support” Vladimir Putin after the meeting, which lasted more than four hours. It was his first trip outside North Korea since the pandemic began.

U.S. military intelligence warned this potential arms deal and alliance could happen around a year ago. Pyongyang had earlier denied that it would support Russia in its invasion of Ukraine, but it looks like North Korea is officially siding with Russia.

Newsweek described it as an “alliance of pariahs”:

North Korea has loomed аs a potential supplier of arms to Moscow since the beginning of the massive Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. From absurd claims propagated by Russian media that North Korea would send 50,000 troops to the front to Ukraine firing seized North Korean munitions back at the Russians, Pyongyang, together with Tehran, has appeared as an arsenal of autocracy.

This alliance suggests that Russia is pretty desperate for ammunition. After 18 months of war in Ukraine, it has significantly diminished its artillery stockpiles. North Korea is largely closed to the West, but for all the nation’s failures, it seems to still have access to an estimated 14,000 artillery systems. Some of them date back to USSR-produced shells from the Cold War.

That’s about all North Korea has. But in exchange for cannons and shells, Russia can provide the kinds of things it hasn’t been able to get because of sanctions: nuclear submarine technology, missile and space technology, cheap energy, engineering and production capabilities and more.

The question is: How will the West respond?

The possibility of a deal between Russia and North Korea has proven troublesome for the United States. North Korea had been sanctioned as late as August 2023 for trying to secretly aid Russia. Vice President Kamala Harris stated it would be a “huge mistake” for Putin and Kim to meet. She was ignored. National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson urged North Korea to cease negotiations with Russia in a statement, citing previous commitments the country has made not to sell arms to Russia. Predictably, Pyongyang is undeterred.

The U.S. has very little leverage over North Korea and can’t do much, if anything, to stop the arms deal. Neither country really cares about the desires of Europe or the United States. And as Newsweek states about North Korea’s aging munitions, “Artillery does not have to be cutting-edge to be devastating.”

The bigger question is what role China played in this summit and arms deal. Most outside observers feel like China has something to do with this relationship. In fact, South Korea’s intelligence believes the three countries have already discussed cooperating on naval exercises. Is a looming cohort of American enemies—Russia, North Korea and China—forming? And what role does Iran play in this relationship?

The East-West divide is becoming clearer every day, and as geopolitical tension grows due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, it’s not hard to predict a coming global conflict. When it does explode, and the loss of life reaches catastrophic levels, peace will only be reached under the charismatic leadership of the Antichrist.

Before he comes to power, the Rapture will bring mass chaos to the planet anyway. In other words, the global temperature is rising, and things may start to boil over soon.

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Thousands Dead in North African Tragedies

This has been a horrific week of death and destruction in North Africa. In Libya, at least 8,000 people are presumed dead and another 10,000 are missing as catastrophic flooding from the hurricane-like Storm Daniel in the Mediterranean caused dams to collapse in the northeast part of the country.