The burgeoning Moscow-Beijing-Tehran friendship spells a weakening of the impact of US sanctions. Tehran’s relief from sanctions in the short-term could lead indirectly to the PRC’s long-term control over Iranian ports and the Strait of Hormuz, cementing Beijing’s footprint in the region.
And what does that mean for the next era of strategic alliances? A new NATO? A new period of diminished cooperation between the US and Mexico, the US and European NATO, and so on?
Perhaps the “experiment” in universal, forced literacy, has been a failure, an historical blip. Literacy is in retreat because of technology and because inquiring minds challenge leadership patterns. Yet intellectual capacity— signified by literacy— determines strategic success. What is to be done?