How Do We Deal With a Superpower Led by a War Criminal?

[Nevilledog]

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Tim Hogan 浩勤
@TimInHonolulu
OPINION
THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN

How Do We Deal With a Superpower Led by a War Criminal?

Check out this article from The New York Times. Because I'm a subscriber, you'll be able to read it for free.

nytimes.com
Opinion | How Do We Deal With a Superpower Led by a War Criminal?
There’s never been a pariah state as consequential as Russia.
7:53 AM · Apr 10, 2022

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/10/opinion/putin-russia-ukraine.html

No paywall
https://archive.ph/b8B6n

It is hard to believe, but now impossible to deny, that the broad framework that kept much of the world stable and prospering since the end of the Cold War has been seriously fractured by Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. In ways we hadn’t fully appreciated, a lot of that framework rested on the West’s ability to coexist with Putin as he played “bad boy,” testing the limits of the world order but never breaching them at scale.

But with Putin’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, his indiscriminate crushing of its cities and mass killings of Ukrainian civilians, he went from “bad boy” to “war criminal.” And when the leader of Russia — a country that spans 11 time zones, with vast oil, gas and mineral resources and more nuclear warheads than anyone else — is a war criminal and must be henceforth treated as a pariah, the world as we’ve known it is profoundly changed. Nothing can work the same.

How does the world have an effective U.N. with a country led by a war criminal on the Security Council, who can veto every resolution? How does the world have any effective global initiative to combat climate change and not be able to collaborate with the biggest landmass country on the planet? How does the U.S. work closely with Russia on the Iran nuclear deal when we have no trust with, and barely communicate with, Moscow? How do we isolate and try to weaken a country so big and so powerful, knowing that it could be more dangerous if it disintegrates than if it’s strong? How do we feed and fuel the world at reasonable prices when a sanctioned Russia is one of the world’s biggest exporters of oil, wheat and fertilizer?

The answer is that we don’t know. Which is another way of saying that we are entering a period of geopolitical and geoeconomic uncertainty the likes of which we have not known since 1989 — and possibly 1939.

*snip*

[Bernardo de La Paz]

1. Not a superpower, especially as revealed now. A regional power with some global reach & nukes. .nt

[PortTack]

2. This! WTF NYT??!! They once again exaggerate...just not a good source anymore

[stopdiggin]

5. might be true. but also a case of semantics

Whether you ascribe the title 'superpower' or not - quite apart from their military and political reach, trying to isolate the wealth and power of the Russian state (not just now but looking into the future 30-40-60 years) - from the global economy (and power structure) - as we are attempting to do now - is gong to be a major, major undertaking. Complete with enormous pains and headaches. It seems sure to roil the world - and it is really hard to overstate the impact. In fact - there are questions about whether it is in fact possible. Just now beginning to see the effects ... And of course the effects will be compounded on the weak and vulnerable (as ever).

Hate to say it but - 'too big to fail ..?'

[uponit7771]

9. +1, ... and their economy will be more like NK and Iran's by the end of the year. Still bad

[samsingh]

3. Vote out or imprison the traitor republicans in this country while uniting

and strongly fighting the foreign ones

[samsingh]

4. Vote out or imprison the traitor republicans in this country while uniting

and strongly fighting the foreign ones

[David__77]

6. It's not a new thing, there being a "veto" to UN authority.

It’s the same basic situation as throughout the post-WW2 period. It’s baked into the foundation of the UN. And the US would not support the abolition of its own veto authority.

[Doc Sportello]

7. It all boils down to one thing: Putin has nukes

If he didn't the west would be in Ukraine right now, beating the crap out of the Russians and maybe going all the way to Moscow for regime change and trials. I don't know what the answer is but yes, that one fact does upend the post-WWII paradigm.

[Shanti Shanti Shanti]

8. The UN and its words are useless against an enemy that only understands brute force

You dont negotiate with a rabid animal, you put it down

[WhiskeyGrinder]

10. No comment.

[roamer65]

11. Military coup d'etat.

You throw them a shit pot of money to do it.