Ukraine War and World Order
- Jia Han
- Feb 20, 2025
- 2 min read
Just 3 days ago, I wrote a write-up: Ukraine War (2-17-2025). I did not intend to write about this topic so soon. But things developed very fast. Zelenskyy and Trump had a fallout [1]. Bill O’Reilly analyzed news reports about this event [2]. (If you have good political science and Intl Relations knowledge, you probably do not need [2]. I got it all correct during my first viewing.)
[3] is short and clear. Note that it occurred before [1]. Let it be clear, the current situation is largely inevitable, as one of the interviewers in [3] said so. Since the start of the war, the GoodFellows have discussed various scenarios time and again with similar outcomes. Missteps of President Biden Adm. were largely to blame for today’s difficulties.
WSJ op editor had an extended discussion with Hal Brands [4] (John Hopkins Professor, I believe he is Kissinger’s protege). It is very good. There are not many good choices for this war; one has to make a difficult decision. For Ukraine, a ceasefire without conceding sovereignty (Stephen Kotkin’s suggestion at the start of the war) is perhaps the best outcome.
It is important to have a vision of possible world order, i.e. some goal to strive for. I wrote several write-ups because this is critically important. After WWII, the West had tried to establish a liberal world order. Its philosophical foundation is Kant’s philosophy [5]. It cannot be achieved because it contracts the Bible. When Russia started this war on Ukraine, there was no return. Unrealistic goal to return to a rule-based world order is not practical. With two superpowers (Russia and China) turning to adversaries, such a goal is no longer practical. The West needs to find a practical goal to work for. Remember a total disorder means a Hobbesian world. With nuclear weapons, such a world means …… [7] asks for a practical and relatively good word order.
References:
[4] **Donald Trump's Russian Revolution (WSJ op 2-20, Hal Brands)
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