It is true that leaders and observers around the world have often spoken out in favor of strengthening or defending the "international legal system". But that system has always been much more ambitious than the real situation.
The reality is that countries that have military or economic power not only have the right to make and enforce these rules, they also have the right to break them at will. The biggest risk comes when those who make the rules break them. The first conflict between the superpowers in the post-Cold War period created that situation by pitting it against each other. The powerful countries are violating the laws made by them.
Russia continues its brutal, traditional military strike on Ukraine. President Vladimir Putin believes that Ukraine is part of his country and that Russia has the right to bring the country back to the Kremlin. On the other hand, US-led NATO is waging a massive hybrid war against Russia.
The West is supplying huge quantities of weapons to Ukrainian forces in the war. Since the war began, US President Joe Biden alone has approved the transfer of 1.35 billion in lethal weapons to Ukraine. Some of these weapons have been shipped to Ukraine. Something is left to go. The West has also imposed growing economic sanctions on Russia. They have virtually expelled Russia from the Western-led financial system and confiscated the wealth of many wealthy Russians. The West has tried to build an international public opinion. Many countries have now banned Russian state media. Global law-makers, who have been fighting day and night for a legal system, have unilaterally gone in the opposite direction.
The world is now at risk. The West is sending weapons like floodwaters to Ukraine, a country with a long history of weak governance and widespread corruption. These weapons could eventually flow westward, fueling crime, drug trafficking and terrorism across Europe. The revival of that Iron Curtain could accelerate the rise of a militarily strong and neo-imperialist Russia. Putin has already described the collapse of the Soviet Union as a "tragedy" and "the end of historic Russia" and indicated that he would do his utmost to restore Russia's past glory. And not only will Russia be isolated in this war, but the Ukraine war will also sever decades of broader global economic involvement (which has long been seen as a bulwark against the superpowers).
Of course, the idea that countries will trade for life instead of attacking each other is never realistic. Mutual economic interdependence does not exclude each country from its desire for aggression, just as China has relentlessly pursued expansionism from the South and East China Sea to the Himalayas, even as it engages in a system of mutual economic interdependence.
But economic interdependence forces lawmakers to exercise some restraint. For example, despite the imposition of economic sanctions on Russia, Europe is being forced to keep oil and gas exports, the mainstay of Russia's economy, afloat. Russia's energy exports have not stopped, as oil imports from Russia will rise sharply and fuel the West. In other words, Europe's long-standing dependence on Russia's energy is preventing both sides, at least in part, from hurting each other. Russia's energy exports have not stopped, as oil imports from Russia will rise sharply and fuel the West. In other words, Europe's long-standing dependence on Russia's energy is preventing both sides, at least in part, from hurting each other.
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