First Comes A Russian War, Then North Korean Missiles. Is Iran Next?

The War in Ukraine is dominating the headlines, but it’s far from the only international security crisis underway.

China has made longstanding threats to non-Chinese vessels in the South China Sea and to nations that share the sea with China. Obviously, Chairman Xi of China has repeatedly claimed that Taiwan is part of China and has threatened to use force to invade Taiwan if the Taiwanese seek an independent political destiny.

Iran is in the late stages of renegotiating the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, JCPOA, that deals with Iran’s uranium enrichment plans and efforts to build a nuclear warhead that can be fitted on a missile and aimed at Israel. Trump tore up the JCPOA, but now Biden has restarted the negotiations and is close to finalizing a new deal that is even worse than the first.

And as reported in this article, North Korea is again testing intermediate-range missiles and may be preparing to test an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of reaching Guam, Hawaii, Alaska, and the West Coast of the United States.

The particular test described in the article was a failure, but it’s one of many tests. Even failure is valuable, as you study what went wrong and move closer to your ultimate objective. And there are ongoing crises in Syria, Lebanon, Venezuela, Sudan, Ethiopia, and elsewhere around the world.

What do all of these crises have in common? They are all encouraged or inflamed by the perception of weakness on the part of Joe Biden and the United States.

Biden was never very bright, but his nascent senility has come to the fore and his decision-making ability is badly clouded. Enemies say, “now’s the time to strike” when it comes to their geopolitical ambitions whether it’s seizing territory (Russia), nuclear weapons (Iran), ICBMs (North Korea), invasion (China), or other strategic goals.

Since Biden will not get better, you should expect the geopolitical landscape to get worse.

For investors, this means volatility, possible liquidity crises, occasional flights to quality in the form of gold and cash, and crashing stock markets. Expect several more years of this even if the Republicans take back the Congress in 2022. Biden is weak and our enemies know it.

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