OPINION: Russian and Iranian Imperialism - Basis for Cooperation against Ukraine and the West

At the risk of entertaining a problematic metaphor, one might say that the presence of an imperialistic tendency is imbedded in the DNA of Russian governments. This tendency was passed down to the Russian Federation from the Soviet Union and Czarist Russia.

Similarly, Iranian governments have inherited an expansionist tendency from the Persian Empire, not to mention the Islamist sense of superiority over “infidels.”

The military alliance between the Russian Federation and Islamic Republic of Iran means the formation of a “double helix” – to extend the conceit – for a new imperialism, pre-programmed resistance to democracy and rule of law as a protector of the people rather than a government weapon.

In this light, Ukrainians are also “infidels” because they fight against their former suzerain and refuse to consider themselves either vassals of the Russian Federation or members of the Russian people and “Russian world.”

Indeed the “Russian world” is so saturated with war that it leaves no chance for people who join it to exist peacefully.

“Denazification” of Ukraine – one of the stated goals of Russia’s war – means to consider Ukrainians as Russian people. Ukrainians’ refusal to identify themselves with Russia and their desire to exist independently of Moscow’s rule are perceived as an encroachment on the sovereign rights of the Russian Federation over the territory of the former possessions of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union.

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Although Russia and Iran are rivals in oil and gas sales and in many cases competitors in seizing spheres of influence in the Middle East, confrontation with the United States and NATO, not to mention Western economic sanctions, have brought them closer together.

Russia and Iran have similar goals: Russia exports to other countries the idea of a “right” world order in which it is the leading force and legislator; Iran exports to different parts of the globe the Shiite Islamic revolution.

Both countries have successfully suppressed resistance to their regimes within their own countries and seek to do the same on a global scale. According to some reports, they are consulting with each other on methods of suppressing popular unrest and overcoming Western sanctions.

Iran has been supporting the Russian Federation by supplying it with thousands of drones. How deep and reliable is the cooperation of the Islamic Republic, with Russia?

According to U.S. intelligence, the first batch of short-range Fateh-110 and Zolfaghar missiles, capable of hitting targets at a distance of 300 and 700 kilometers respectively, is already being prepared for Russia in Iran.

Ballistic missiles produced by Iran will most likely be placed on the northern border of Ukraine. Ukraine has almost no effective defense against ballistic missiles.

These missiles will be aimed at Kyiv to try to destroy the Ukrainian government or at least prevent decisions of national importance from being made.

Instead of the hapless and unsuccessful invasion of Russian tank columns at the beginning of the war, the Russian Federation will use these missiles against a poorly defended Ukraine.

Western tanks will not be able to defend Kyiv, the center of the Ukrainian resistance, which will be subjected to Mariupol-type destruction.

The war in Ukraine may last even if Putin leaves the presidency, because the source of the attack is not one dictator or another at the head of the Russian Federation, but a strain of Russian imperialism, which is unable to retreat.

There is no reverse in its gearbox. When it comes to imperialism, feed-back and self-control are rare phenomena.

Therefore, the system is programmed to advance at all costs. This is not merely a matter of some developed mechanism of necessary and unavoidable lies. It is the self-deception of an imperialist regime convinced of its rightness and of its ultimate victory.

The views expressed are the author’s and not those of Kyiv Post.