Frontlines for freedom: Resisting the New Axis

The comfortable capitals of the West like to pretend that history has ended, that trade can tame tyrants. That illussion has been shattered. These are the states that defend what remains of freedom.

In my series of articles on the New Axis that has emerged to seize power in the wake of the United States’ fall from grace as global hegemon, I discussed how Russia, Iran, China, and even South Africa have proven to be enemies of liberal democracy and a peaceful world order.

In this article, I wanted to provide the contrast. The countries which stand against these global tyrants and have formed a frontline to protect not just the West, but free civilisation as we understand it.

Unlike global powers like the United States and the European Union, which should be doing more to counteract the insidiousness of the New Axis, these frontline states have fought tooth and nail to not just protect themselves, but the greater idea of democracy and the free world.

Ukraine: Resisting the Russian bear

Since 2022 Ukraine has held the line against Russia. Putin predicted that Russia’s euphemistically named “Special Military Operation” would only last two weeks. As of writing, the invasion has lasted almost four years - longer than Soviet Russia’s involvement in World War 2.

Despite the odds, Ukraine has become a crack fighting force, giving NATO a run for its money during military exercises where 16,000 NATO troops were beaten by a handful of Ukrainian drone operators.

The face of modern warfare has arguably been drawn on Ukraine’s battlefields, and regardless of what happens in the future of the war, the West owes Ukraine its undying gratitude that it has not just stopped the Russian advance, but innovated ways in which the West can defend itself against capricious invaders.

Ukraine’s fighting spirit has been reinforced by the fact that it faces an existential threat. Not only does Russia want to absorb it completely into its empire, but it also has a horrid record when under Russian rule. From 1932 to 1933, Soviet Russia implemented a manmade famine in Ukraine called the Holodomor, resulting in the deaths of 3.5 to 5 million people. Ukraine has never forgotten this.

Ukraine is not a perfect country. No country is. But it is far more democratic and has far more respect for human rights than Russia ever has. But its role as a frontline state goes beyond this.

Ukraine is home to some of the most fertile land in Europe, and huge endowments of iron and manganese. Not to mention critical raw minerals that are essential for outfitting a global war machine and the next technological revolution.

Geographically, Ukraine borders Poland, Slovakia and Romania. If Russia was to take it completely, it would be on the doorstep of Europe proper, and the EU and NATO would be hard-pressed to defend its borders. It is Ukraine that stands in the way of Moscow’s plan to invade Europe in the late 2020s.

It is of tantamount importance that the EU and NATO equip Ukraine with whatever it needs to fight. Russia is a paper tiger, but it has manpower and the material backing of China, North Korea and Iran. It needs more ammunition, weapon systems and fighting men. As far as it is possible to do so, more Western-aligned armies should be blooding their troops in Ukraine to prepare for an inevitable future war.

Taiwan: The Real China

Taiwan is what mainland China should have been. A free market that serves its people, not the geopolitical whims of a leviathan state. It is a vibrant democracy that respects human rights and actively supports liberty.

It is also the primary target of the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) avarice and malice. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has made it clear that it aims to force Taiwan to unite with the mainland, and bring not just its landmass, but its unparalleled semiconductor manufacturing under Beijing control.

Hong Kong used to stand as the frontline against the encroachment of the PRC. But pro-democracy protests were violently crushed under the cloak of lockdowns during 2020, seeing an end to true independence in the city-state.

Now, Taiwan stands as the last stumbling block to the PRC before it can reach its perceived manifest destiny of uniting what it perceives to be China proper.

Taiwan has developed a sophisticated defence system, likening the island to a porcupine and threatening any invasion with unfathomable losses. But against a nuclear power and the vast armies of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), Taiwan cannot stand against Beijing alone.

Even with efforts to diversify the sources of semiconductor chips, Taiwan has the most well-developed chip sector in the world. If Beijing seizes this strategic industry, it could leverage its monopoly to wield unparalleled geopolitical power, while threatening to fling other countries into a technological dark age.

The world mustn’t be idle here. Taiwanese chips power militaries, computers, companies and our entire modern infrastructure. And its people deserve the right to self-determination and freedom.

The West needs to adopt a zero-tolerance policy to the One China policy and unequivocally condemn any aggression towards Taiwan. It needs to be made clear that while the West maintains any sort of military power, it will not allow Beijing to land a single vessel on Taiwanese shores.

Israel: The Bulwark Against Terror

Israel does not only stand as the only country in the world that protects Jews as a matter of principle and not convenience, but also stands as the most adept country at combatting global terror and Islamic fundamentalism.

Iran has used its vast oil wealth to outfit apocalyptic terrorist organisations like Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis. Israel has crushed the capacity of all three of these organisations to keep waging their global jihads.

It also stands as the only multicultural democracy in the region, defending the rights of all races, ethnicities and cultures. Not to mention that it is the only country in the region that defends the equal rights of women. In most of the Middle East, gay and transgender people are shunned or killed. In Israel, they are protected and celebrated.

That level of acceptance, tolerance and liberty needs to be protected. Not just because Israel is the homeland of the Jewish people, but because it defends Western civilisation in a region that has all but collapsed to archaic ideas of religious fundamentalism and brutality.

Rather than condemn Israel for defending itself against the capricious invaders of October 7^th, we should be supporting Israel’s defence against fundamentalism, its crippling of Iran’s nuclear program, and its stand against terror.

Israel is under attack by a vast misinformation war pushed by Russian, Iranian and Chinese bot-farms and supported by the radical Left and nationalist Right. What we need to do as defenders of the free world is fight against this misinformation and spread the truth about Israel. That is the victim of attempted genocide, and its only sin is refusing to give up.

Iran: The rising lion

In January 2026, millions of protesters flocked to the streets of Iran to protests the Islamic regime and demand democracy and freedom. Potentially tens of thousands of these protesters have been killed by the police and military.

But the desire for Iran to embrace democracy and throw off the shackles of Islamic rule is strong. The old lion flag of Iran has been seen flying across the world as the Iranian diaspora yearn for their country to become free.

If the protesters can overthrow the Ayatollah and the mullahs, the New Axis will lose a crucial pillar, and terrorist organisations around the world will lose a vital backer.

The United States and the West need to stop dallying over providing support for the protests. The clock is ticking, and the lion of Persia deserves to become free.

Conclusion

The frontline states share a single, brutal truth. Freedom is not defended by speeches, summits, or symbolic condemnations. It is defended by people and countries willing to absorb the first hit, the first missile volley, the first wave of terrorists, the first cyberattack, the first blockade. Ukraine bleeds so Europe does not. Taiwan holds the technological high ground, so the world does not wake up under a Chinese chip monopoly. Israel fights a terror network that Iran has spent decades and billions building. And inside Iran itself, ordinary people are risking everything to break the regime that bankrolls that terror and props up the New Axis.

The comfortable capitals of the West like to pretend that history has ended, that trade can tame tyrants, and that “stability” is achieved by bargaining with the very forces that destroy it. That illusion is finished. The New Axis is not a misunderstanding - it is a project. It aims to rewrite borders by force, weaponise supply chains, export censorship, and normalise terror as diplomacy. If the free world treats this like another policy disagreement, it will deserve the catastrophe that follows.

The response is not complicated, but it requires spine. Arm Ukraine to win, not merely to endure. Deterrence must be credible, immediate, and overwhelming. The West must make Taiwan untouchable and treat any attempt at invasion as a direct assault on the global economy and the principle of self-determination. Israel should be supported as a strategic ally against a transnational terror infrastructure, not scapegoated to appease activists and autocrats. And the Iranian people must be given real backing, not empty sympathy, because a free Iran would be the greatest strategic defeat the New Axis has suffered in a generation.

There is also a lesson for smaller democracies, including South Africa. Neutrality in a moral war is not neutrality. It is complicity by inertia. Countries that claim to value liberty cannot flirt with the New Axis for short-term favours and still expect long-term security. The frontline states are showing us the cost of freedom. The rest of us must decide whether we will help pay it now or be forced to pay far more later.

Nicholas Woode-Smith is managing editor of the Rational Standard and a senior associate of the Free Market Foundation. He writes in his personal capacity.