December 16, 2025

Can the Global Order Be Saved? Not Without Punishing Russia

By: Nicholas Lokker

This article was originally published in INKSTICK.

In recent weeks, the United States has spearheaded a new flurry of diplomacy aimed at reaching a settlement to the Russia-Ukraine war. While it remains unclear whether a peace agreement will materialize, it has become more and more evident that Washington is willing to sell out Kyiv at any cost to get a deal done quickly — even as Russian President Vladimir Putin jeopardizes the global order.

Rushing to strike a quick deal is a critical mistake. With Moscow refusing to entertain a deal on anything other than its own terms, the conditions for reaching a just settlement remain absent. Forcing Kyiv into a lopsided agreement would not only suppress its future sovereignty — it would imperil the broader principles underpinning global order.

The only way to succeed in the urgent task of achieving a just peace settlement is radically reshaping Russia’s calculus.

Since World War II, the norm against territorial conquest — enshrined as international law in the 1945 United Nations Charter — has become remarkably widespread. While interstate war has not disappeared, it has declined dramatically, as its legitimacy as a tool of dispute resolution has evaporated. Evidence of this norm is visible in the language Vladimir Putin uses to camouflage Russia’s war of aggression as a “special military operation” taken in alleged self-defense.

Yet the prohibition on force is in grave danger. Russia has yet to be truly punished for its aggression. Meanwhile, unilateral military action and threats of such action have proliferated globally, coming from countries including the United States, Israel, and more. Perhaps assessing that the trend is in Russia’s favor, the Kremlin has even abandoned its rhetorical cover for the invasion, becoming emboldened enough to openly call it a “war.”

Read the full article in INKSTICK.

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