The Russian war in Ukraine provides us with yet another opportunity to consider what might be done to end the primitive and immensely destructive behavior that has characterized so much of human history. Against a backdrop of thousands of years of bloody wars and the ever-present danger of a nuclear holocaust, it is time to dispense with international anarchy and create a governed world.
Published Articles by Lawrence Wittner
Donald Trump's illegal retention of classified U.S. government records reminded me that, in my capacity as a scholarly writer of international history, I have been reading these kinds of sensitive official files -- and learning from them -- for decades. My research in U.S., British, Soviet, and East German records not only unearthed a good deal of information about great power behavior during the Cold War but, also, taught me how zealously governments guard their secrets. In this context, it's possible that Trump's decision to hold onto classified files reflects a desire to withhold evidence of his own administration's extraordinary record of duplicity and malfeasance.
Over the past two decades, the International Criminal Court has blazed a new trail in human history, securing convictions of some of the world's worst abusers of human rights. But the governments of the United States, Russia, and China, unlike the governments of 123 other nations, have not accepted the court's jurisdiction over their own citizens.
The Wagner Group, a shadowy Russian private company working hand-in-glove with the Russian government, has recently emerged as a major player in the thriving mercenary business. It commenced operations by providing the military muscle for pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine during 2014. Since then, its thousands of armed men have brought widespread death, torture, and rape to Syria, the Central African Republic, Libya, Mali, Mozambique, and Sudan.
The Russian government's claim that it was or is threatened by the possibility of Ukraine's joining NATO is hollow, as is the Russian contention that Ukraine was or is Nazi-dominated. Instead, the Putin regime's vastly destructive war upon Ukraine is clearly driven by the goal of territorial gain and, as both the United Nations and the International Court of Justice have observed, constitutes a clear violation of international law.
Although great empires rank among the most powerful engines of world history, they are also among the most dangerous, especially as they brood over their decline. The ubiquity and perils of this nostalgia -- which afflicts Russia, Britain, France, China, the United States, and other nations -- highlight the need to create an international security system to replace today's international anarchy.
Although the rulers of the world's major military and economic powers have repeatedly claimed that they are making their nations great again, their policies have not resulted in widespread happiness among their citizens. As the latest UN-sponsored survey of happiness reveals, they fail to rank among the world's happiest nations -- in most cases by a very wide margin. The happiest nations are those with policies emphasizing social solidarity.
Great power crimes against humanity, often driven by imperial arrogance and ambition, have been -- and continue to be -- a plague upon the world. But it remains possible to take a significant step along the road to a peaceful, humane planet. Strengthening the United Nations would provide such a step.
Vladimir Putin's dominant motive for his invasion of Ukraine is clear enough. Denying that Ukraine has any right to statehood independent of Russia and glorifying the expansionism of his country Czarist and Stalinist past, he is caught up in a reactionary nostalgia for empire. Or, to put it simply, he longs to Make Russia Great Again.
The Cuban missile crisis ultimately convinced John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev that, in the nuclear era, there's little to be gained, and a great deal to be lost, when great powers continue their centuries-old practices of carving out exclusive spheres of influence and engaging in high-stakes military confrontations. Surely, we, too, can learn from the Cuban crisis -- and must learn from it if we are to survive.