Despite its semi-comic optics, Putin and Kim Jong-un’s show of comradeship is deeply sinister

Editorial: If the West is serious about defeating the modern-day axis of evil, it will have to match the determination of the autocrats in control of Russia, North Korea and Iran

Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un shake hands during their meeting at the Vostochny Cosmodrome in the far eastern Amur region of Russia, on Wednesday (Sputnik)

Within living memory, an American president gave a memorable speech that featured a famous, if not infamous and ill-fated, soundbite – “the axis of evil”.

When George W Bush deployed the phrase in his State of the Union speech in 2002, he named Iran, Iraq and North Korea as the principal (and inter-connected) threats to America and to world peace, albeit as a cynical precursor to his illegal invasion of Iraq, which in fact turned out to the least potent of the three powers he pilloried.

Even so, today the West and the rules-based international order do face a very real axis of evil – comprising Iran, Russia and North Korea. The three pariah states are cuddling up for diplomatic warmth, and forming an increasingly close informal coalition. Iran and North Korea have been helping Russia break international sanctions for some time (the ayatollahs and Kim are past masters in the field), supplying weapons to the faltering Russian campaign in Ukraine, and helping to “launder” oil and financial flows. Bad as all that has been for peace and the civilian population of Ukraine, this new axis seems set to deepen its relationships.