Browsing: China

     In the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, after thousands of years of violent international conflict, efforts to establish global norms for nations in connection with war, diplomacy, economic relations, and human rights accelerated. These efforts resulted in the founding of the United Nations (which develops, codifies, and enforces international law), the International Court of Justice (which settles legal disputes among nations and provides advisory opinions on legal questions), and the International Criminal Court (which investigates and tries individuals charged with the gravest crimes of concern to the international community).

   International megalomania is a dangerous syndrome—an obsessive drive for dominance on the world stage fused with a false belief in personal invincibility. History provides unmistakable examples of megalomaniac figures such as Joseph Stalin, Muossilini, and Adolf Hitler. Each pursued imperial greatness at immense cost while sacrificing human life in service of grand ambition. Rather than strengthening society, their pursuits hollowed it from within.

     For example, their aggressive policies toward Ukraine and Venezuela are remarkably similar. Putin began his takeover of Ukraine by charging that its government was controlled by “fascists” and, moreover, that its closer relations with Western Europe would irreparably damage Russian national security. Similarly, Trump has sought to overturn the Venezuelan government, arguing that it is controlled by drug traffickers and represents a significant menace to U.S. national security.

  As President Putin continues an unprovoked war with his neighbor Ukraine, none of the other European countries on the planet fight back to protect Ukraine. Putin has proven to the world that he is a bully, and to stop him, you must have an organized coalition that will stand up against him.