Formation of the Hegemony of US-Russia-Israel

IN FOCUS, 1 Jun 2026

Sakai Tanaka – TRANSCEND Media Service

23 May 2026 – In the latter half of May 2026, US President Trump (13-15 May 2026) and Russian President Putin (19-20 May 2026) successively visited China and held summit meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Following this, there will be talks between Xi Jinping and Kim Jong Un soon in North Korea. How were these events related to each other? Is it merely a coincidence of timing? Probably not. Trump was initially scheduled to visit China in March-April, but postponed it due to his busy schedule with the Iran War, and visited just before Putin’s visit. The Russian government says that “Putin’s visit was decided in February this year.  It was the US that interrupted at the last minute.”

The US government boasted that Trump was warmly welcomed in China and that his visit was a great success. Yet, the welcoming ceremony for him was largely the same as the one Putin received. Neither the US nor China made significant decisions during this visit, and there were few results to announce. Anti-Trump media and alt-media outlets are ridiculing his visit to China as a failure, or claiming it exposed China’s dominance and the US’s decline. Many analyses, driven by animosity towards Trump and Israel, become emotional and overestimate the dominance of China and Iran.

Some analyses of international politics circulating  the world these days have become increasingly distorted, irrelevant, and nonsensical. From my perspective, the proportion of analyses I find convincing is steadily decreasing. It is deemed that nonsense is sweeping the contemporary world. Unfortunately, the majority of people are blindly believing it.

The relations between China and Russia so far have been described as “China superior” and “Russia inferior.”  This means that Russia has supplied only commodities and raw materials such as oil, gas, minerals, and food, while China have supplied everything else (industrial products, etc.). The main topic of Putin’s recent visit to China was the increase in natural gas exports from Russia to China due to the construction of the Power of Siberia 2 pipeline.

Nevertheless, Russia is more assertive this time. It is because the prolonged closure of the Strait of Hormuz due to the Iran War has made it difficult for China to rely on oil and gas from Iran and the Arab oil-producing countries in the Persian Gulf, which were its main sources of imports.  As the result, China is becoming increasingly dependent on oil and gas from its neighbor, Russia.

RT, a Russian government-controlled media outlet, published an opinion piece titled “Beijing can no longer view Russia as an inferior partner” just before Putin’s visit to China. RT published an article that would antagonize China’s sense of superiority just before Putin’s visit… [What did it actually mean?]  It is highly unlikely that this state-controlled media outlet sensitive to domestic politics would do such a thing on its own. Rather, it is more likely that Putin’s camp had RT publish it to demonstrate their intentions to China.

Until the outbreak of the Iran War, China imported Iranian oil at one-eighth of the international market price, at $10 per barrel.  Since the beginning of the Ukraine War in 2022, Russia also had China buy its oil and gas that it could no longer sell to Europe. Oil and gas fields are unable to be shut-down. Therefore, the exports of oil are unavoidable, even at any lower prices. It is a logical consequence that they are being forced to sell at rock-bottom prices. [As such, it could have been assumed that] China, before the outbreak of the Iran War, could have told Russia, such as “Iran sells oil and gas cheaply. Why can’t you, Russia, sell them cheaply to us? You’re in trouble, aren’t you, ah..?” Russia was at a disadvantage against China, at that time.

However, such situation has changed dramatically since the outbreak of the Iran War. Not only oil and gas itself, but also plastics necessary for industrial products, and fertilizers necessary for agriculture, all require oil and gas in their manufacturing. Both Russia and the US are not only major producers of oil and gas, but also they are exporters of large quantities of agricultural products. The Iran War gave Russia (and the US) the upper hand. In contrast, China, a major producer of industrial goods, found itself at a disadvantage against Russia and the US. This is the background to RT’s bullish article, “Beijing can no longer treat Moscow as a junior partner”.

There was another unexpected incident occurred before Putin’s visit to China. On 18 May 2026, the day before Putin’s visit, a Russian drone attacked (collided with) “KSL Deyang”, a Chinese cargo ship, when it was entering the port of Odessa on Ukraine’s Black Coast. The cargo ship was a Marshall Islands-flagged vessel owned by a Chinese company (Nanjing Jin Xipu Ship Management). All of its crew members were Chinese.  The ship was sailing empty to load Ukrainian iron ore. The drone collision caused a fire, which the crew extinguished immeidately.

That incident had been unknown to the world until President Zelensky brought it to the light.  Nonetheless, neither China nor Russia has made any statement about this incident. The Russian military used drones and ballistic missiles to attack, not only the Chinese ship but also a wide area of ​​the Odessa port. So it was possible that the Chinese ship was accidentally targeted. On the other hand, it could also be considered, as Zelensky also pointed out, that the Russian military must have surveyed what ships were around the Odessa port before the attack.  Therefore, it could be considered that the attack on the Chinese ships was intentional.  On top of that, as mentioned earlier, it could be interpreted as a warning from Putin, who has become equal to China, to Xi Jinping, “Don’t buy supplies from Ukraine, Russia’s enemy country!”

The political background of both the RT commentary and the attack on the Chinese ships is ambiguous. It is my view that the balance of Sino-Russian relations has shifted from China’s dominance to equality, and that Putin has become more assertive.  Having said that, however, I hereby state that my view as such is not definitive at all. It because if the blockade of the Hormuz Strait ends soon and oil and gas exports resume smoothly, Russia’s (and other resource-rich countries like the US) dominance will disappear and things will return to normal.  On the contrary, however, the longer the Hormuz Strait closure continues, the stronger resource-rich Russia’s dominance and the weaker manufacturing-oriented China’s will become, and Sino-Russian relations will become more equal.

A glance at the situation looks like that Trump wants to end the blockade of the Hormuz Strait as soon as possible.  However, there is a growing sense that he actually wants to prolong the blockade of the Strait to drive a transformation of the global economy. In fact, the Trump administration is spreading false information to the media, claiming that Iran is rebuilding its destroyed military industry surprisingly quickly. By spreading the information as such, he is attempting to make people in the world believe that Iran is superior whereas Trump is at a disadvantage.  This makes him prolong the blockade of the Strait.

The media, experts, and the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (all of which are British puppets) are hostile to Trump. Therefore, they gladly believe and propagate distorted information portraying Trump as at a disadvantage. (The British Intelligence Community has lost its intelligence capabilities after Likud seized control of its intelligence network. They now has no reliable information other than the distortions spread by Likud.)

Although Trump is outwardly not on good terms with Russia these days, he previously sought the US-Russia cooperation.  In fact, for example, Trump and Putin held a summit in Alaska last year.  It seems that Trump and Putin have already established close ties, are now playing the role of rivals, and are secretly communicating to form a covert US-Russia alliance that is manipulating the world. In addition, there is Israel (Likud) behind Trump.  Israel/Likud [unofficially and politically] controls/influences the US Intelligence Community. Putin is also an ally of Likud, as he has the US Intelligence Community instigate the war in Ukraine.  The longer the war drags on, the more the UK and Europe behind Ukraine will accelerate to cause their self-destruction, giving Russia the upper hand ever more.

The covert US-Russia alliance is also an alliance for resources, which can supply the world with oil, gas, and agricultural products. With the Middle East unable to produce oil and gas, the US and Russia have become resource-rich nations that can monopolize the world. The Middle East was originally supposed to be a four-way system of Israel, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey, but the Iran War has made Iran and Saudi Arabia weakened. Turkey has long been an inferior ally, playing the role of Israel’s rival (like France to Britain in the past). The Middle East has become a region of the hegemony solely dominated by Israel.

Israel has forced Russia to cede the Caucasus, which was previously within its sphere of influence, and has established a system for importing Azerbaijani oil via Turkey. (As the “reward” for that, Russia has been given an advantage.) Turkey, on behalf of Israel, is instigating Europeans to send numerous aid ships to Gaza.  Turkey’s purpose for that is to intensify European hostility towards Israel and make Europe a “loser.” Israel’s radical Security Minister Ben-Gvir intentionally abused activists on the aid ships and released videos of it.  One may remember that the killings and abuses of Palestinians and activists are humanitarian crimes, however, this is Israel’s/Ben-Gvir’s a deliberate strategy to neutralize the humanitarianism that was once part of the British hegemony.

Trump and Israel, along with Putin, are forming a “US-Russia-Israeli hegemonic system” in this emerging multipolar world. This system could also be called a “Likud-based hegemony” (which controls/influences the US Intelligence Community), but this term “Likud hegemony” could become inappropriate or difficult to use if Likud loses the upcoming the Israeli election and loses power. Why is this system being formed? Israel is driving out the British-affiliated US Intelligence Community and making Trump’s America a puppet state to dominate the world. That much can be easily understood. The US and Israel could also prolong the closure of the Strait of Hormuz to crush not only Iran but also Saudi Arabia. That is also understandable.

However, the closure of the Strait of Hormuz is giving an advantage to resource-rich countries like the US and Russia, while putting resource-importing countries (manufacturing-based nations) like the UK, Europe, China, Japan, and South Korea at a disadvantage. AI and finance cannot function without oil, gas, minerals, and food. The UK and Europe (British-affiliated) are considered as the enemies for the US, Russia, and Israel.  This is why these three countries want to crush these UK/British-affiliated European countries.  But, what about China, Japan, and South Korea, then?

Let me make it clear in advance as follows:  The central target of that strategy is China, but it was Japan and South Korea which were to suffer the fallout.  Fortunately, Japan and South Korea are now purchasing oil and gas from the US to meet their needs. They are also buying oil from Russia on a spot basis. It is deemed that in the medium term, Japan and South Korea will reconcile with Russia in connection with the reconciliation with North Korea, which I will analyze in the latter part of this essay. Then, Japan and South Korea will be able to begin to import oil and gas from Russia on the long-term basis. Trump is prolonging the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz as the strategy to force Japan and South Korea into a situation where they have no choice but to reconcile with Russia, thereby strengthening Russia.

But then, how about China? My view about this issue is as follows:  As the UK and its British-affiliated [European] countries are being brought down, they transferred and entrusted the post-war US-UK hegemonic system they had built to China. A new world order is being formed where China, having received the hegemony from the British, confronted with Israel, which had incorporated the US. Therefore, Israel is strengthening the US and Russia while weakening China, forcing it to relinquish the hegemony it received from the British.

The peak of China’s hegemony was 2023-2024. During that period, Xi Jinping mediated the reconciliation between Iran, which threatened Israel, and Saudi Arabia. In addition, during the same period, China expanded BRICS, a Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-led non-American multipolar hegemonic system. However, from 2024 onward, Israel began its moves to expand its hegemony in the Middle East (overthrowing Assad, crushing Hezbollah, attacking Iran, incorporating Somaliland, seizing the Caucasus, appeasing Turkey by abandoning the Kurds, etc.). Because of that, China began to scale back its hegemonic activities.

China voluntarily relinquished its oil and gas interests in Africa. It also stopped talking about the Belt and Road Initiative, a West Asian hegemonic strategy. Even when Trump expanded the US hegemony into Latin America as part of a multi-polarization strategy and drove out Chinese companies, China tacitly approved. Since last year, the US Intelligence Community has [covertly] involved [either directly or indirectly] with the creation of the Takaichi administration in Japan to stop the liberal faction of the Liberal Democratic Party [of Japan] and the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, both of which are British puppet forces (i.e. anti-Trump factions), from cozying up to China. At this time, the CCP cooperated with the US Intelligence Community, strengthening Takaichi, while on the surface the CCP and Takaichi are clashing against each other. That is, the CCP is covertly accepting Japan becoming a force that can confront China.

China is clearly shrinking its hegemony. After the outbreak of the Iran War, even when Iran pleaded with the CCP, it only offered empty words of support and did not concretely help Iran. The CCP and Russia have abandoned Iran. The scenario of “China and Russia helping Iran to defeat the US and Israel” is a product of delusion, but the US Intelligence Community is intentionally accelerating the spread of this delusion to prolong the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

Xi Jinping received the transfer of the global hegemony from the weakened UK&British-affiliated countries, initially accepted it.  Nonetheless, he soon relinquished it, when he incurred the wrath of the Likud faction. It could not have been possible for him/China to profit from being caught up in the power struggle between the Likud and British Jewish factions. This was a trap (which Japan once suffered a crushing defeat after being caught up in the Jewish power struggle between capital and empire). The CCP expanded its hegemony on the premise of increasing its own profits, and likely judged that operating its hegemony in conflict with the US Intelligence Community and Israel would only result in losses. It is also worth noting that while the Anglo-Saxons, under the influence of the Jews, are ethnically fond of “domination,” the Han Chinese prefer “money.”

Given all that as mentioned above, and also given that both Trump and Putin successively visited to China recently, it seems that the US and Russia went to Xi Jinping to praise the CCP’s voluntary abandonment of hegemony and propose that he join the US-Russia-Israeli hegemony. The path for the CCP to lead BRICS and inherit the post-war US-UK unilateral hegemony system from the British side has been thwarted. The Likud faction (i.e. the US, Russia, and Israel), which successfully annihilated China’s path toward its hegemony, is appreciating Xi Jinping and urging him to join the world order of the US [Trump]-Russia [Putin]-Israel [Netanyahu]. It may be speculated that this is the current situation. Or not?

Before urging the CCP to join, the US and Israel established a long-term blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, weakening the power of China, one of the main oil and gas importers [through the Strait of Hormuz] in the world. The CCP could no longer enter the new world order in a superior position to the US and Russia. Putin.  Actually, as mentioned above, he is using RT commentary and attacks on Chinese ships, emphasized to Xi Jinping during his visit, “It’s not about Chinese superiority, but about equality between China and Russia. Understand?” While praising Xi Jinping for agreeing to reduce hegemony, Trump reportedly took some of the top major executives of American companies to China and said to Xi Jinping, “If you, China, want to do business with the North and South Americas, you need the US approval. First of all, you should let our American companies make money, right?“

Xi Jinping emphasized to Trump that “(even if we, China, accept the reduction of  the hegemony) we will never accept Taiwan’s independence.“ For the CCP, Taiwan is a domestic issue. (Hegemony refers to relations with foreign countries.) Furthermore, another issue the CCP has long insisted on as part of its hegemony concerns is foreign intervention in those countries bordering China (such as Laos, Myanmar, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, etc.), particularly from the US and other foreign countries.

Regarding this issue of the neighboring countries of China, Trump and Israel have enlisted neighboring countries of China such as Mongolia, Kazakhstan, and Vietnam into the “Peace Council,” forming a containment network against China. Is this merely “harassment” from the US and Israel against the CCP, or will it lead to any possible concrete actions by the US and Israel to crush China? For now, considering the Peace Council’s largely ineffective nature, it seems to fall under the category of harassment.  For now, future developments of this issue should be closely watched.

BRICS, which has been led by the CCP, ended its foreign ministers’ meeting held in India in mid-May 2026 with the pro-Israel UAE and anti-Israel Iran clashing. BRICS has split, a stark contrast to around 2023 when it increased its membership and showcased the unity of non-US countries worldwide. India, the chairing country, has reconciled with China. Nonetheless, India is now pro-Israel and part of the covert US-Russia-Israel alliance, and is secretly pleased with the weakening of BRICS. The world led by China is disintegrating.

While Xi Jinping’s China has expanded focusing on its economy, his country appears to have relinquished the hegemony it gained through international political expansion, at the behest of the Likud faction, and returned to the sphere of influence established during the Deng Xiaoping (Hu Jintao) era. As the “reward,” Xi Jinping has been given the honor of proposing the US-North Korea reconciliation, leading to the stabilization of the Korean Peninsula. It has been reported that Xi Jinping plans to visit North Korea by early June 2026 to propose a mediation between the US-North Korea reconciliation to Kim Jong-un. Even so, this is not a sudden emerged development.  In this regard, Wang Yi, Chinese Foreign Minister, visited North Korea in April 2026. It is believed that China confirmed North Korea’s intentions during the Foreign Minister’s visit, and then confirmed the US intentions during Trump’s recent visit.

North Korea, in its March constitutional amendment, removed the principle of national reunification with South Korea and explicitly stated that its southern border is with the Republic of Korea. North Korea has acknowledged South Korea as a [sovereign independent] state, something it had previously denied, and has abandoned its goal of reunification through North Korea’s annexation with South Korea. North Korea is creating a situation where the reconciliation and normalization of diplomatic relations are possible if the US and South Korea cease their hostile stance and tacitly accept North Korea’s nuclear weapons. Trump has long wanted to reduce and withdraw the US troops from South Korea. In addition, the Trump administration has recently stopped demanding North Korea’s abandonment of nuclear weapons, citing the need to “bring North Korea to dialogue.” While the US government outwardly states that “the principle of demanding North Korea denuclearize remains unchanged,” it is highly likely that it will actually tacitly approve North Korea’s nuclear armament.

South Korea, caught in the middle, cannot refuse. If the US and North Korea reconcile, Japan and North Korea will also have no choice but to reconcile with North Korea. In recent years, Russia has been the most supportive of North Korea, but Japan and South Korea, whose oil and gas supplies from the Middle East have been cut off, may also seek reconciliation with Russia, a major oil and gas power.

That movement, as mentioned above, is not an event that could “eventually” happen. It WILL happen soon. While Xi Jinping’s visit to North Korea and proposal of US-North Korea reconciliation would be a diplomatic achievement for him, it was actually Trump and Putin who laid the groundwork over several years. Xi Jinping is being given the honor of mediating the final step of the US-North Korea reconciliation as the reward for cooperating with the US-Russia-Israeli hegemonic system. During his first term, Trump repeatedly met with Kim Jong-un. This was to counter the plot by the then-powerful British-backed US Intelligence Community, which sought to instigate a war between North Korea and the US-South Korea alliance as a means of obstructing Trump, a covert multi-polarist (anti-British).

In his second term, Trump formed a covert US-Russia alliance and entrusted Putin with the role of looking after North Korea. After the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, Putin faced intense hostility from the US and Europe, which allowed him to deal with North Korea without hesitation. North Korea operated its munitions factories at full capacity to mass-produce Soviet-style ammunition for use by the Russian military in Ukraine, sent North Korean soldiers to the Battle of Kursk as desired by Russia, and earned $13 billion, nearly a year’s worth of its GDP. Putin thanked North Korea, tolerating its nuclear armament, providing it with nuclear weapons and missile technology, signing a security agreement, and selling it food cheaply. Russia strengthened North Korea in all aspects: military, economic, and international politics.

Before being strengthened by Russia, North Korea relied on economic aid from China. China did not want to confront the US, which views North Korea as an enemy of the US (→ the US would intensify its hostility towards China if it considered it an ally of North Korea).  Therefore, China pressured North Korea not to build nuclear weapons. North Korea was dissatisfied with this situation.  While receiving food and fuel from China, North Korea continued to develop nuclear weapons and missiles, while maintaining its hostility towards the US and South Korea and advocating for the reunification. Meanwhile, China reluctantly continued to support North Korea because it feared that ceasing aid by China to North Korea might make North Korea radicalized.

Then, recently Russia broke this deadlock. North Korea is now permanently valued by Russia. Besides, for North Korea, its national problems have been significantly reduced. It no longer needs to rely on China. The US-led by Trump does not only essentially consider North Korea as an enemy, but also the US is now secretly friendly with Russia. If Xi Jinping does not propose the US-North Korea reconciliation at this time, the US and North Korea may reconcile on their own in the near future. Seeing the actions of the US and Russia, China abandoned its previously cautious stance and, following Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s visit to North Korea in April, shifted to the stance of accepting North Korea’s nuclear armament.

The US and Russia, along with China, are creating a movement to internationally accept a nuclear-armed North Korea. Japan and South Korea, subservient to the US, will also have no choice but to recognize a nuclear-armed North Korea as a state. The Korean Peninsula issue will be resolved not through unification, but through the coexistence of North and South Korea as separate states. After this issue is resolved, US troops will withdraw from Japan and South Korea. As the result, it may become necessary for both Japan and South Korea to strengthen their independent defenses.

The current US-Russia-Israeli hegemony in the emerging multipolar world is dismantling the BRICS world system centered on China, which the British attempted to usurp.  In addition, as a byproduct, it could be highly likely this new situation may lead to the resolution of the Korean Peninsula issue (where North Korea remains nuclear-armed).  Meanwhile, however, the blockade of Hormuz will be prolonged.  Regarding these issues, let me note as follows: The scale of the on-going transformation of the current world is tremendously large.  In addition, many of these trends are difficult to understand and explain, because they are significantly deviating from the conventional understanding of the existing worldview.  Despite all that, however, I will continue to explore these issues and explicate them in my future essays.

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Disclaimers:

  1. Those hyperlinks in some of the paragraphs and those web links with brackets [ ], with the italic letters under some of the paragraphs were added by the translator for the convenience and references for the reader.
  2. The views and/or opinions in those underlined hyperlinks and those web links with brackets [ ] with the italic letters under some of the paragraphs, added by the translator, do not necessarily reflect those of his. In addition, it is either impossible or unavailable for him to verify the genuineness of the information in those links. He does not take any responsibility for the contents in those relevant links at all. The reader is kindly requested to understand, interpret or judge those views, opinions and/or information at his or her own responsibility.
  3. Some sentences in the article, deemed important and/or emphasized in terms of the context, are expressed in the Italic letters, by the translator for the convenience of the reader.
  4. The views and/or opinions expressed in the above-mentioned article are those of Sakai Tanaka, the original author. His views and/or opinions do not necessarily reflect those of the “Transcend Media Service” or “TMS” (which is a non-profit peace journalism website) or those of the translator. Therefore, the reader is kindly requested to understand, interpret or judge those views and/or opinions at his or her own responsibility.
  5. The original article in Japanese was published more than a few days or a few weeks ago. Meanwhile, the situations and/or conditions mentioned in the article might have been changed. This also means that the author’s argument expressed and/or the information provided in the article might have become inadequate or less or least adequate, obsolete, out of date or no longer valid by the time the TMS reader reads the same article in English.

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Original author: After graduating from university, Sakai Tanaka started working at the Kyodo News Agency in 1986. From 1997 he joined Microsoft Network (MSN) and in 1999, due to change of policy at Microsoft, he became an independent journalist. Tanaka has published more than twenty books on international affairs, some translated and published in China, South Korea and Taiwan. He studied at Harvard University from 2000 to 2001 and in 2005 was invited to serve as a senior researcher at the Royal Faisal Institute in Saudi Arabia. Website: tanakanews.com 

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Translation:  Satoshi Ashikaga + Google Translate (with some corrections and modifications)

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Original in Japanese: 米露イスラエル覇権の形成


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This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 1 Jun 2026.

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