Ukraine war: Partnership of Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un threatens to prolong the conflict indefinitely
The longer wars go on, the greater the danger they morph and metastasize.
The spectacle of Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin buddying up at a Russian cosmodrome threatens to take the war in Ukraine in a worrying new direction.
They are two of the great villains of our time. On their own, both are a worry to the West, but together there is a force multiplier effect.
It is a sign of desperation for the Russian leader, for sure.
He has been sold a pup by his generals who had told him they had modernised the military while corruption undermined the whole project.
Millions may have been salted away on villas, yachts and homes in the West instead.
Mr Putin needs shells, artillery pieces and munitions. Kim can offer that, but something more.
China would like to help the Russians more, but is hamstrung by the threat of Western sanctions.
North Korea could be a conduit for Chinese weapons supplies, a fence for Beijing’s military aid that could prolong this war indefinitely.
Kim needs the relationship to work, too. Like his father and grandfather, he has mismanaged his economy so badly his people are malnourished.
Russia can offer grain. But the North Korean leader wants technical knowhow as well. There is talk of Moscow offering fighter jets, too.
Today’s spectacle is the culmination of years of Western failure to neutralise the threat posed by both men.
Years of appeasement and failed diplomacy have failed to prevent the Kims from developing nuclear weapons. North Korea is now honing rocket technology that could carry that nuclear threat to the US mainland.
Mr Putin has not been deterred either.
His invasion of Ukraine is the culmination, arguably, of decades of Western weakness.
He took a chunk of Georgia and the feeble sanctions that followed encouraged him to do the same in Crimea, then send his military to intervene in Syria.
The meeting of these two leaders poses uncomfortable questions for the West.
Has it underestimated the threat they both pose and what can they wreak if they now combine forces?
And after years of failure to contain them, is it too late to do so now?