Columnist Joseph Bosco warned in an article for The Hill that the world has entered the initial stages of Third World War. He urged United States President Donald Trump to act decisively alongside Congress and international allies to prevent a global catastrophe.
Bosco traced the origins of the current global conflict to the 1917 Russian Revolution, which threatened to spread authoritarian political and economic ideology across the globe. He noted that the century-long ideological struggle was first interrupted by World War I, which he described as a traditional nationalist and territorial conflict.
Two decades later, World War II combined traditional territorial expansion with totalitarian ideologies from Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and Imperial Japan. Bosco noted that while these Axis states opposed communist Russia, they shared its goal of total control over domestic and foreign populations. Following the complete defeat of the aggressors in both world wars, the United States led the global struggle between democracy and autocracy against the Soviet Union and its derivative tyrannies in China, North Korea, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
According to Bosco, these tyrannical systems remain united by deep hostility toward the American-led democratic model. That model relies on regime change through the regularly expressed will of the people rather than dynastic succession or crude force.
Role of hostile autocratic powers
Examining current threats, Bosco recalled that Russian President Vladimir Putin seized part of Georgia and conquered or destroyed large portions of Ukrainian territory and infrastructure. However, Putin failed to break the will or national identity of the Ukrainian people. Bosco wrote that Putin's actions represent only the first phase of a revanchist goal to restore the Russian Empire and regain Russia's status as a leading European power.
Meanwhile, Iran has reinforced its role as a primary military player in the Middle East, second only to Israel, an enemy Iran believes it is destined to destroy. Bosco pointed out that by directly confronting the United States, Iran has temporarily assumed leadership within an authoritarian clique, diverting American attention and military resources away from threats posed by other autocrats.
Farther east, North Korea expanded its influence beyond the Korean Peninsula by sending 50,000 ground troops to rescue Russia from a successful Ukrainian counteroffensive. Bosco noted that North Korea demonstrated its value as a member of the anti-Western coalition while gaining combat experience for its own regional ambitions. At the same time, China's economic power has made it the indispensable leader of the authoritarian axis, standing to gain the most if Western collective security mechanisms collapse and the democratic model fails.
Strategy for the Trump administration
Bosco observed that President Trump's foreign policy appears unconcerned with moral crusades or soft concepts such as human rights and the rule of law. Nevertheless, Bosco argued that the American president can save the Western democratic project if he recognizes that forces challenging soft democratic values also threaten national and global security. Although the values under attack may be soft, Bosco noted that the attackers are hard and heartless, targeting cities and countries across the free world, a phrase used often by Ronald Reagan that Trump avoids even when invoking Reagan's call for peace through strength.
To counter this unified group of adversaries across Europe and Asia, Bosco emphasized that Trump must explicitly declare America's readiness to defend Ukraine, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Israel, and other security partners.
Iranian missile ambitions and American arms supply
In related coverage, UNIAN reported that Abdul-Nabi Musavi Fard, a representative of Iran's Supreme Leader, declared Iran's intention to extend its missile range to 15,000 kilometers to enable strikes on the continental United States. Musavi Fard called for revenge and the destruction of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, stating that Iranian missiles can already reach Jerusalem. Iran currently maintains the largest and most diverse missile arsenal in the Middle East, containing thousands of ballistic and cruise missiles.
Additionally, The New York Times reported that the United States war against Iran has depleted American weapons stockpiles to alarming levels and delayed weapons deliveries to European and Asian customers. Experts noted that the ammunition crisis will likely persist for years, a situation that could embolden Russia and China when considering potential military conflict with the United States.
