Sir: The dangerous developments in the Middle East are posing a threat to world peace. Putin’s decision, right after his meeting with Obama on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session, to launch airstrikes on the Islamic State militants in Syria flabbergasted not only Washington but the entire world. But most of all, China’s decision to join Russia is being taken not only as a surprise, but an ignition to a most devastating third world war. Propaganda is being made that Pakistan is likely to join the Russia-China coalition, which may have serious impacts on Islamabad’s relations with various Muslim countries. China on September 26 deployed its fighter aircraft carrier Shenyang J-15 in the area, alongside the Russian carriers where Putin’s forces are conducting overlapping air campaigns, with a high risk of a military clash between the US and Russian forces. China recently carried out joint naval drills with Russia in the Eastern Mediterranean. A number of Chinese military advisers also joined Russian personnel in Latakia, a Syrian province that is Assad’s stronghold. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told the UN Security Council meeting: “The world can no longer afford to stand by with its eyes closed on what is going on in Syria.” There is a question: why is China jumping into this war? Was it prudent on the part of Putin in the first place? Is it wise on the part of China to risk world peace with consequences of horrendous proportions? Defence analysts believe that the Russian and Chinese leadership should have woken up much earlier. They could have saved Saddam’s Iraq and Qaddafi’s Libya from ruination. Such a coalition should have formed much earlier to exert pressure on the US and take measures to stop it from going too far in imposing pre-emptive wars in the name of terrorism and for extending democracy of its own choice. Both Russia and China have stakes in Syria’s oil industry, in which China’s state-owned National Petroleum Corporation holds shares in two of Syria’s largest oil companies, while another Chinese company, Sinochem, holds 50 percent of shares in Syrian oil fields. Reports say that there are indications of the emergence of a new superpower axis between China, Russia and Pakistan. According to the report, the world is moving towards a bipolar world with China, Russia, Pakistan and a number of other countries of Central Asia and the Middle East on one side, and the US, EU, Japan and their Asian allies on the other side. ESCHMALL SARDAR Peshawar