On Saturday, October 7, 2023, the 71st birthday of Russian President Vladimir Voldemortovich Putana, the Palestinian militant group Hamas gave him a birthday gift: a distraction for the West, to take attention off of Putin's floundering attempts to conquer their older and more civilized Western neighbor, Kyiv. Hamas launched the largest single-day assault the nation of Israel has faced since the Yom-Kippur War of 1972-73 (Ogao).
What does this have to do with a blog that has always focused on China and has recently expanded to include the Russian genocide in Ukraine?
I'm glad you asked.
The Diversion Russia Needed
As we mark day 600 of Vladimir Putin's "3 day mission" into Ukraine, there's no avoiding the fact that Russia's attempt to de-Ukrainize Ukraine is going badly for them, no matter how much propaganda is fed to the world to try and make it appear like the Kremlin is winning. I'm not denying that Ukraine is capable of some propagandizing in their own right, but even if you take Ukraine's statistics with a grain of salt, the fact that Russia has been reduced to going to a third-rate non-entity like North Korea with hat in hand as a supplicant begging for aid (Associated Press), tells all that anyone needs to know.
And in Russia's calculus, they would have won by now if the West wasn't focused on Ukraine. The truth is that all the West has ever given Ukraine is our spare kit and pocket change and Ukraine was devastating Russia's invasion force for four solid months before the West bothered to deliver their first supplies, but Russia doesn't grasp that. In their perception, the West has been devoting its "full resources" to supporting Ukraine's struggle against Russian imperialism. By this logic, if the West were to be suddenly distracted by another war, elsewhere, against an ally who gets more attention than Ukraine does, then Russia would have gained a free hand in Ukraine. And since Vladimir Putin's instrument of choice in the orchestra of American public opinion has always been the Far Right, he knew exactly where to hit to make them shout "forget Ukraine! We have more important battles to fight!"
Israel.
A Threesome In Plain Sight
"You'll notice that this theme of Russia calling Jews "Nazis" while sending Nazis to kill Jews, is kind of a favorite pastime of the Kremlin."
So, for some background here: Israel is surrounded on every side by Jihadic militant groups. To their Southwest is the Gaza-strip, controlled by (traditionally) Iran-backed Hamas. To the Northwest is Russian-puppet-state Syria, where all six thousand and forty four sides of the Syrian Civil War (some of which are backed by Russia, some by Iran, some by Turkey, some covertly and sheepishly backed in the dark by the CIA, some by the Kurds, some by the Saudis and some by what's left of ISIS) do actually manage to agree on one thing: they all hate Israel, even if their patrons don't. To their Northeast is Lebanon, where Iran-backed Hezbollah is the de facto government. And finally, to their East is Judea-Samaria (more commonly known as "the West Bank") where the Chinese-backed "Palestinian Liberation Organization" operates.
Notice the key players here: Russia, China, Iran. This triad should sound familiar. We've known about this alliance of revisionist autocrats for years. Sources in the West (Britzky, Brands, Cloud, Avdaliani, Kuo), the Jewish diaspora (Frantzman), the Islamic World (Al Mayadeen, Bangash), and India (WION) have all commented on its emergence. Even the three members themselves - Iran (Sinaee), Russia (Korybko), and China (Ren) - have admitted the formation of this alliance, which they themselves have dubbed "The Axis (Ridgwell)."
Earmark that, because we'll be back to it later.
Anyway, all of that was to say Israel is surrounded by Jihadi groups controlled by the Axis of Russia-China-Iran. So, when Russia needed someone to distract the West (especially America, which has traditionally been VERY Pro-Israel) to take pressure off of their Ukrainian front in the desperate hope of trying to pull off something they can pretend was victory, they turned to Hamas.
This happened right out in the open. Russia has been deepening their relationship with (and control of) Hamas since mid-2022 in an effort to keep pressure on Israel and try to blackmail them out of openly supporting Ukraine (Stradner & Hardie). This was set against a backdrop of Russia accusing Israel of having no regard for the lives of Palestinian civilians (while they themselves slaughtered Ukrainian civilians), and of backing what they called the "Neo-Nazi" regime, in Kyiv.
Yes, you read that right. A nation with documented ties to absolutely every Neo-Nazi cell on Earth, who sent a Neo-Nazi cell called "Task Force Rusich" on a mission to assassinate Ukraine's Jewish president (Rondeaux, Deer & Dalton), in what they called a "De-Nazification" mission, accused the world's only Jewish state, of backing Neo-Nazis, while aiding in a large scale terrorist assault on that state's civilian population and arming an organization whose goal is the genocide of the Jews (Coyne). This wasn't too long after Sir Gay Lapdog's Sergey Lavrov's foot-in-mouth moment of claiming Hitler was Jewish (Westendarp). You'll notice that this theme of Russia calling Jews "Nazis" while sending Nazis to kill Jews, is kind of a favorite pastime of the Kremlin.
Anyway, Rewind to the Spring of 2023. Russia was growing impatient with the slow pace of their offensive. The active Russian Army was not advancing on a single front and Wagner's snail-pace campaign in Bakhmut was yielding precious little (Bailey et al.), at the cost of more than a hundred thousand lives. It was at this moment that Russia first realized they needed to open up a second front to divert the West's attention. To this end, they invited Hamas's leadership for talks in Moscow. Russia hoped to keep this quiet, but Israel noticed (Khoury), and Hamas made a point to publicize it as much as possible (Farhat, Middle East Monitor Staff). At least, in the days leading up to them, Hamas made them highly public.
But after these talks were finished, Hamas got very quiet about what had been said. However, upon returning to their caves in Gaza, they made a point to arrange a visit to Tehran (i24 Staff), to meet with Russia's primary patron, the Ayatollah... whose drones were proving so effective at propping up Russia's desperate struggle against superior Ukrainian forces by taking out hardened targets like Ukrainian kindergartens and churches (De Luce).
After that, Russia hunkered down to await Ukraine's long-foretold summer counteroffensive, a campaign which (when the dust settled) didn't retake a lot of territory but killed almost exactly 80,000 Russian soldiers in 4 months (an average of 20,000 per month)...
...and destroyed more than $60 billion worth of Russian ammunition (as well as putting the Kerch Bridge in range of ATACM's, which Ukraine now has (Greenhall & Partridge)), putting Russia in an even more visibly vulnerable position than before.
Slava 'Ruse-Ya,' Eh?
"And when Israel's retaliation was to finally roll up their sleeves and say "we're done playing around," what was Putin's response? Well, he responded by saying Israelis were... you guessed it:"
During this time, Russia was working on what they no doubt believed was a clever ruse. Having already boasted of capturing some of the equipment the West gave to Ukraine, Russia now transferred this equipment to Hamas (Kolesnikova). The goal was to discredit Ukraine in the eyes of the West by tying them to a terrorist attack on a well-loved Western ally, and Hamas played the part well by claiming "Ukraine sold us these weapons."
This ruse became transparent when Putin publicly spoke up in favor of Hamas, and Hamas openly and publicly thanked Putin for help against Israeli... aggression.
Yes, you read it right. After targeting Israeli civilians in the largest single-day terrorist attack anywhere outside of Ukraine since 9-11, the attackers called Israel an "aggressor" for shooting back.
And when Israel's retaliation was to finally roll up their sleeves and say "we're done playing around," Iran (Al-Jazeera Staff), Russia (Wehner) and China (Sebastian) all three denounced Israel for having the audacity to fight back. Iran even threatened that there would be a response from "the Axis." And yes, they called it that again. So, we have an alliance of three revisionist dictators, who are determined to destroy everyone they consider an obstacle, ESPECIALLY Jews (first in Ukraine, then in Israel), calling themselves "The Axis." Where have I heard this before?
I digress. One of the most cynical moments in this united condemnation of Israel by The Axis was when Putin lambasted Benjamin Netenyahu's warning to Gazans to get out within 24 hours. He called this a war crime, saying 24 hours was not enough time to evacuate an area the size of Gaza.
And yet, that's 24 hours longer than this sonofabitch ever gave a God-damned single one of the Ukrainian civilian targets he has unapologetically opened fire on!
As a side note, when Israel ignored this laughably hypocritical condemnation and proceeded with a ground offensive to wipe out every remnant of Hamas once and for all, what was Putin's response? Well, the man who sent Neo-Nazis to "De-Nazify" Ukraine, beginning with an assassination attempt on its freely elected Jewish president, before arming those who echo the Nazi Party's calls for genocide of the Jews, responded by saying Israelis were... you guessed it: Nazis (Reuters).
So What Comes Next?
Well...
...World War Three isn't on the horizon. It's here.
The Axis is on the move.
Phase One was Russia's attack on Ukraine, supported by Iran (and, though they pretend to be neutral, by China (Aarup et. al.))
Phase Two was an attack on Israel by Hamas (backed by Russia and Iran), Syria (a Russian client-state) and Hezbollah (an Iranian proxy), with the likely threat of further action by Iran, now with the tacit blessing of China.
Phase Three will be when China, the puppeteer which controls Russia and Iran, as well as Russia's North Korean benefactors, steps out of the shadows to make their move; possibly the long-predicted Taiwan invasion but I think the Philippines is more likely, simply because Taiwan is too obvious. Alternatively, China's target may be Japan, as 
This has been a long time in planning. Frankly, it would behoove many leaders in the West to read Unconditional Warfare and consider the possibility that deploying Covid-19 was an intentional preparatory step, or at least that its premature release forced the China-controlled Axis to step up their timetable.
Regardless, The next World War is already underway (has been for some time now, actually), and it's time for the world to choose who they side with. The Axis, or Civilization.
Because when this is over, only one of the two will exist.
Works Cited
Aarup, Sarah Anne; Panov, Sergey & Busvine, Douglas. "China secretly sends enough gear to Russia to equip an army." Politico. 24 July, 2023. Web. 17 Oct, 2023. "https://www.politico.eu/article/china-firms-russia-body-armor-bullet-proof-drones-thermal-optics-army-equipment-shanghai-h-win/
Al-Jazeera Staff. "Iran’s Khamenei demands Israel stop bombardment of Gaza." All-Jazeera. 17 Oct, 2023. Web. 17 Oct, 2023. "https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/10/17/irans-khamenei-warns-israel-that-bombardment-of-gaza-could-bring-response
Associated Press. "North Korea's Kim vows full support for Russia's 'sacred fight' after meeting Putin." NPR. 13 Sep, 2023. Web. 13 Oct, 2023. https://www.npr.org/2023/09/13/1199171436/north-koreas-kim-vows-full-support-for-russias-sacred-fight-after-meeting-putin
Avdaliani, Emil. "An Emerging Eurasian Axis?" CEPA.org. 27 Feb, 2023. Web. 16 Oct, 2023. https://cepa.org/article/an-emerging-eurasian-axis/
Bailey, Riley; Howard, Angela; Hird, Karolina; Wolkov, Nicole; Phillipson, Layne; Barros, George; Kagan, Frederick W. " Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, March 20, 2023." Critical Threats. The Institute for the Study of war. 20 MAr, 2023. Web/ 17 Oct, 2023. https://www.criticalthreats.org/analysis/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-march-20-2023
Bangash, Zafar. "Iran, China, Russia in Strategic Alliance to Neutralize US." Crescent International. 1 Feb, 2022. Web. 16 Oct, 2023. https://crescent.icit-digital.org/articles/iran-china-russia-in-strategic-alliance-to-neutralize-us
Brands, Hal. "China, Russia and Iran Are Slowly Ganging Up on the US." Bloomberg. 1 Sep, 2022. Web. 16 Oct, 2023. https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-09-01/china-russia-and-iran-are-slowly-ganging-up-on-the-us?embedded-checkout=true
Britzky, Haley. "Top US general says increased partnership between Iran, Russia, and China will make them ‘problematic’ for ‘years to come’." CNN. 31 Mar, 2023. Web. 16 Oct, 2023. https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/29/politics/china-russia-iran-us-mark-milley-nuclear/index.html
Coyne, Jerry. "You’ve got to be carefully taught: Hamas television urges kids to hate and kill Jews." Why Evolution is True. 6 May, 2014. Web. 17 Oct, 2023. https://whyevolutionistrue.com/2014/05/06/youve-got-to-be-carefully-taught-hamas-television-urges-kids-to-hate-and-kill-jews/
Cloud, David. "Iran’s New Friends: Russia and China." Wall Street Journal. 5 May, 2023. Web. 16 Oct, 2023. https://www.wsj.com/articles/irans-new-friends-russia-and-china-4b2f1f00
De Luce, Dan. "Recovered debris offers ‘undeniable’ proof Russia is using Iran-made one-way drones in Ukraine, U.S. intel analysts say." NBC News. 4 Aug, 2023. Web. 17 Oct, 2023. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/recovered-debris-proof-russia-using-iran-made-shahed-drones-rcna98245
Farhat, Beatrice. "Hamas says leadership visited Russia, met Sergey Lavrov." Al-Monitor. 14 Mar, 2023. Web. 17 Oct, 2023. https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2023/03/hamas-says-leadership-visited-russia-met-sergey-lavrov
Frantzman, Seth. "Iran-Russia-China: Tehran believes it is moving toward triple alliance." Jerusalem Post. 2 July, 2023. Web. 16 Oct, 2023.https://www.jpost.com/international/article-748583
Greenhall, Robert & Partridge, Chris. "Ukraine uses US-supplied ATACMS for the first time, says Zelensky." BBC News. 17 Oct, 2023. Web. 17 Oct, 2023. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-67135163
I24 Staff. "Hamas leader to visit Tehran after accepting Iranian invitation." I24. 29 Apr, 2023. Web. 17 Oct, 2023. https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/middle-east/1682748994-hamas-leader-to-visit-iran-after-accepting-invitation
Khoury, Jack. "Russia Invites Hamas Leaders for Kremlin Visit." Haaretz. 14 MAr, 2023. Web. 17 Oct, 2023. https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/2023-03-14/ty-article/.premium/russia-invites-hamas-leaders-for-kremlin-visit/00000186-df39-dc06-afdf-ff3fd16c0000
Kolesnikova, Natalia. "Russia gave captured US weapons to Hamas as a ploy to undermine Ukraine, report says." Business Insider. 10 Oct, 2023. Web. 17 Oct, 2023. https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-seized-us-weapons-to-hamas-ploy-damage-ukraine-report-2023-10
Korybko, Andrew. "IS A SO-CALLED EASTERN AXIS REALLY EMERGING BETWEEN RUSSIA, CHINA, AND IRAN?." Geopolitika.ru. 14 Oct, 2021. Web. 16 Oct, 2023. https://www.geopolitika.ru/en/news/so-called-eastern-axis-really-emerging-between-russia-china-and-iran
Kuo, Mercy. "The China-Iran-Russia Triangle: Alternative World Order?" The Diplomat. 7 July, 2022. Web. 16 Oct, 2023. https://thediplomat.com/2022/07/the-china-iran-russia-triangle-alternative-world-order/
Middle East Monitor Staff. "Hamas sent high-level delegation to Moscow at Russia’s invitation." Middle East Monitor. 16 Mar, 2023. Web. 17 Oct, 2023. https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230316-hamas-sent-high-level-delegation-to-moscow-at-russias-invitation/
Ogao, Emma. "African leaders react as Israel declares war on Hamas." ABC News. 13 Oct, 2023. Web. 13 Oct, 2023. https://abcnews.go.com/International/International/african-leaders-react-israel-declares-war-hamas/story?id=103885919a
Ren Qi. "Russia-Iran ties 'at new level' amid Western curbs." China Daily. 22 Sep, 2023. Web. 16 Oct, 2023. https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202309/22/WS650cedb2a310d2dce4bb7292.html
Reuters. "Putin compares Israeli action in Gaza to WW2 Nazi tactics." Jerusalem Post. 13 Oct, 2023. Web. 17 Oct, 2023. https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-768119
Ridgwell, Henry. "Iran Warns Israel of 'Axis' Response as Fears Grow of Regional War." VOA News. 13 Oct, 2023. Web. 16 Oct, 2023. https://www.voanews.com/a/iran-warns-israel-of-axis-response-as-fears-grow-of-regional-war-/7309548.html
Rondeaux, Candace; Deer, Jonathan & Dalton, Ben. "One of the most notorious battalions of the secretive and deadly Wagner Group appeared to suggest it was prepping to return to Ukraine, raising the prospect of a Russian assault." The Daily Beast. 26 Jan, 2022. Web. 9 Sep, 2023. https://www.thedailybeast.com/wagners-rusich-neo-nazi-attack-unit-hints-its-going-back-into-ukraine-undercover
Sebastian, Dave. "China’s Foreign Minister Condemns Israel’s Response." Wall Street Journal. 16 Oct, 2023. Web. 17 Oct, 2023. https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/israel-hamas-war-gaza-conflict/card/china-s-foreign-minister-condemns-israel-s-call-for-gaza-residents-to-flee-4cZjytuhugXcz2f5k0qx
Sinaee, Maryam. "Iran Forms New Power 'Triangle' With Russia, China, Hardliners Say." Iran International. 19 Jan, 2022. Web. 16 Oct, 2023. https://www.iranintl.com/en/202201198952
Stradner, Ivana & Harvie, John. "Moscow Cozies Up with Hamas to Pressure Israel." American Enterprise Institute. 28 Sep, 2022. Web. 16 Oct, 2023. https://www.aei.org/op-eds/moscow-cozies-up-with-hamas-to-pressure-israel/
Wehner, Greg. "Russia's draft resolution on Israel failed to mention Hamas, defeated at UN." Fox News. 16 Oct, 2023. Web. 17 Oct, 2023. https://www.foxnews.com/world/russias-draft-resolution-israel-failed-mention-hamas-defeated-un
Westendarp, Louis. "Israel condemns Sergey Lavrov’s remark that Hitler ‘had Jewish blood’." Politico. 2 May, 2022. Web. 17 Oct, 2023. https://www.politico.eu/article/israel-yair-lapid-condemn-sergey-lavrov-hitler-comment/
WION. "Gravitas Plus | China, Iran & Russia to create a new World Order?." Facebook. 3 MAr, 2023. Web. 16 Oct, 2023. https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1349969435857804