Stumbling to War

After the Soviet Union collapsed, Richard Nixon observed that the US had won the Cold War, but had not yet won the peace. Since then, three American presidents-representing both political parties- have not yet accomplished that task. On the contrary, peace seems increasingly out of reach as threats to US security and prosperity multiply both at the systemic level, where dissatisfied major powers are increasingly challenging the international order, and at the state and substate level, where dissatisfied ethnic, tribal, religious and other groups are destabilizing key countries and even entire regions. In the US and Europe, many believe that the best way to prevent Russia's resumption of its historic imperial mission is to assure the independence of Ukraine. They insist that the West must do whatever is required to stop the Kremlin from establishing direct or indirect control over that country. Otherwise, they foresee Russia reassembling the former Soviet empire and threatening all of Europe.