Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
There has been a norm in international politics since 1945 that countries should not invade one another. The intervention in March 2003 gravely weakened the moral credibility of the United States subsequently, particularly in the global south and in the Middle East in particular.
A conversation on how Americans view America’s role in the world.
A conversation about the historical memory lapse around the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
The relationship between Beijing and Moscow was asymmetric before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and it is now asymmetry on steroids where China is in the driving seat and is in full control.
Thirteen months into the war, Russia is increasingly dependent on China as a market for its commodities, as a source of critical imports, and as its most important diplomatic partner amid its growing global isolation.
It may be painful to revisit what drove American leaders, on a bipartisan basis, to want to invade a country that had not attacked the United States and had no plans to do so. Yet without looking back, the country will not move forward with confidence and unity.
The United States should admit past errors frankly and demonstrate, through words and deeds, that it has learned difficult lessons.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the EU has stepped up its engagement in Eastern Europe. But it must now go beyond providing soft power support and become a security player in the region.
While the growing trade between Minsk and Moscow has alleviated the former’s current economic difficulties, Belarus is becoming more dependent on its eastern neighbor in the long term and ceding its economic sovereignty.
What the U.S. government may or may not do in one region of the world tells the world next to nothing about what it might do in another.