North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's parade of the country's weaponry this past week raises questions about the country's ability to fund such events, which were likely answered by the presence of his guests from Russia and China, retired U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Blaine Holt said on Newsmax on Sunday.
"Where are they getting the money from the supply chain to host not [just] all these weapons but the nuclear weapons as well?" Holt, a Newsmax contributor and former deputy U.S. military representative to NATO, said on "Wake Up America." "I think we see it on the stage. You see it right there on the grandstand. You've got this four-part alliance showing up. The only person missing that I can see is the Iranian delegate."
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and a Chinese delegation led by a Communist Party Politburo member accompanied the leader Kim to a defense exhibition Thursday featuring North Korea's banned ballistic missiles, while the countries pledged to boost their ties, according to North Korean state media.
The Russian and Chinese delegations arrived in North Korea to commemorate "Victory Day," the 70th anniversary of the end of the Korean War.
Holt said that the world must pay attention to the strategic alliance being formed between North Korea, China, Russia, and Iran, adding that "it's only getting more dangerous from here."
He also pointed out that the comments made Sunday by former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev are adding to the dangerous situation after he said that Moscow will have to use a nuclear weapon if Kyiv's counteroffensive against Russia is successful.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian drones hit targets in Moscow overnight, including the 10th floor of an office building occupied by the Russian Ministry of Economic Development, and retired U.S. Army Reserve Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer, said that the Ukrainians are "trying to be very precise" with their attacks on targets they feel are supporting the war effort against them.
"This is something that the Ukrainians are ramping up," he said. "This is what the U.S. fears regarding the F-16s. If we give this to them, will that be used for offensive issues? And, as Blaine just said, will that potentially expand the war and justify the Russians doing something more against us?"
Meanwhile, African leaders who met with Russian President Vladimir Putin ended the session Sunday without a grain deal but with promises from Putin to forgive loans.
"It didn't make a whole lot of sense that he would not only just get out of the grain deal, and subject them all in the continent to famine, but he also destroyed 60,000 tons or more of food stocks in Ukraine," he said. "You know these African leaders, it's not like they're all bastions of democracy.
"So if they're getting that loan, the loan's forgiven, and suddenly you're going to see them get on sides here pretty quickly."
Shaffer also discussed news reports that the mercenary Wagner Group is moving troops toward the Suwalki Gap, a small strip of land separating Poland and Lithuania, and said that Poland must be "absolutely prepared" for an attack.
"Wagner is the swashbuckling pirates that still respond directly to Putin," Shaffer said. "These people are off the books. They do things to be provocative. This gives Moscow the plausible deniability they need to be very troublesome to our allies."
Further, he said the United States has engaged with Wagner troops in Syria, so "the Pentagon if it's left to its own devices, will not hesitate to support Polish allies and our other allies in the region."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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