With the start of the new year, Foreign Affairs is considering what questions will drive foreign policy debates in the months ahead. What turns will the war in Ukraine take, and how will they affect geopolitics? After months of setbacks, Russia appears to be headed for defeat—but what form this loss will take is unclear, Liana Fix and Michael Kimmage write in a new essay. “A reduced or broken Russia would not necessarily usher in a golden age of order and stability,” they warn. A disorderly Russian defeat in Ukraine could have positive consequences for many of its neighbors—but it could also “create a vortex of instability” that would be felt around the world. This essay is the latest from Fix and Kimmage, whose indispensable series “The Ukraine Scenarios” explores the possible paths the war might take—and considers the effects that each outcome would have on Ukraine, Russia, the region, and the world, as well as the implications for U.S. policy. Read the rest of the collection below. |
