Did Biden embolden new 'axis of evil' by tipping his hand?

Bush's 2002 speech offers template for taming Russia and North Korea

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Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un meet in Vladivostok in 2019: With global attention focused on Ukraine, North Korea has conducted more missile tests. © Reuters

NAOYA YOSHINO, Nikkei political editor

TOKYO -- "The United States of America will not permit the world's most dangerous regimes to threaten us with the world's most destructive weapons," President George W. Bush said in his State of the Union address in January 2002.

In his address, Bush labeled Iran, Iraq and North Korea an "axis of evil" that was arming to threaten global peace. He warned that "the price of indifference would be catastrophic."

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