Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un recently held a historic meeting in Pyongyang that resulted in a mutual defence agreement that has alarmed many western analysts.
This alliance has sparked concerns about deteriorating security in northeast Asia and the invigoration of Russia’s campaign against Ukraine, as well as renewed fears of a unified anti-western bloc that could potentially precipitate a new Cold War.
A closer examination of global geopolitics and economics, however, suggests that instead of a second Cold War, the world is witnessing transient intersections of interests among some non-western powers.
