The National Interest: "The initiative to develop partnerships in the Asia-Pacific region was intercepted by Moscow"

The US analytical publication The National Interest wrote about the rapprochement of Russia and Asia. The political situation in the world is changing every minute, and even the media did not have time to cover all the events adequately. The US leadership, in turn, despite the serious internal problems, is trying to exert its influence on all the regions of the world, but this practice clearly does not bring positive results.

Everything is vice versa with Russia, wh manages to prevent the looming crises, develop existing partnerships and invest in the future at the same time. More turmoil in Europe and instability in the Middle East, of course, concern the US, but an even greater fear is the growing influence of Russia in the Asia-Pacific region. The economic potential of the region is undeniable, but there are a number of potential problems and dangers for the West that require special attention.

Firstly, the US leadership is attempting to control events in the region, which is economically extremely attractive to the United States. However, because the undisputed leader of Asia, China, leans towards an alliance with Russia, the threat of American hegemony, though not entirely absent, is still reduced to a minimum.

The second problem for the Western powers is that Beijing and Moscow are taking measures to improve security, which may threaten the US interests and those of its allies and partners. In particular, Russia plays a key role in China's military modernization, providing the country with advanced weaponry, which, in turn, poses a threat to the United States.

The third problem is that the Russian-Chinese alliance is opposed to the US financial and economic interests. Intensive mutual investment could lead to the fact that the role of the US dollar on the world markets will slide to a minimum, that means the collapse of the USA in economic terms.

Some of these reasons make Western analysts worry about what America can expect in the future. After all, despite the extension of sanctions against Russia, it is obvious that the Kremlin is not going to give up its positions, and the initiative to develop partnerships in the Asia-Pacific region was intercepted by Moscow long ago.

The international AlMonitor wrote about the prospects of relations between Iran and Turkey. Iran and Turkey have never been involved in an open military conflict with each other since the days of the signing of the Qasr-e Shirin treaty in 1639. Therefore, despite the increased tensions in Syria, the countries are unlikely to lose their friendly ties.

From time to time there is a contradiction between the two countries, due to the issue of the Kurdish population, for example, but sooner or later tensions always subsided, and the countries returned to normal cooperation. However, despite all the attempts to de-escalate tension this time, the situation in Syria and Iraq against the background of the growing influence of Islamic State is playing an active role in aggravation of Iranian-Turkish relations. In addition, the situation with the Russian bomber shot down by the Turkish military on November 24th also influenced the development of events. Iran clearly showed that it is on the side of Russia, and Turkey's actions were condemned by the leadership of the Islamic Republic.

There is also a factor of the geopolitical rivalry between Turkey and Iran, which aggravates the tense situation in the region. However, according to analysts, the verbal disputes between Ankara and Tehran are unlikely to grow into active steps, due to the centuries-long partnership between the countries. Firstly, Iran is the second largest exporter of gas to Turkey after Russia. Consequently, Tehran would have no market for natural gas without Ankara. Secondly, Iran and Turkey consider each other as important trading partners. And the third reason is the Iranian tourists, 2 million of whom visit Turkey annually. Thus, Turkey is a certain point of interaction with the Western world for Iran.

It is obvious that, despite the complexity of the situation in the Middle East, the relations between Turkey and Iran will be saved. Perhaps they would not be of such a confidential nature as before, however, and there would be no break either.