Is Ukraine the ‘War Before the War’?

During the Ukraine conflict, the West’s efforts to isolate Russia have been hampered by a lack of support from partners outside North America and Europe. These states have largely accepted Russia’s framing of the conflict as pitting Moscow against NATO, when in reality it is a war of naked aggression against Ukraine. They also reject efforts by the West to cast the war in moral terms, instead prioritizing their own national interests, which in many cases have been well served by buying up Russian oil made cheaper by Western sanctions. The problem of recruiting such states to our side—including vital powers such as Turkey, India and Saudi Arabia—in a conflict involving China could be even more acute...

Read the full article on the Hill website.

This article is republished here under the auspices of The Washington Institute's Diane and Guilford Glazer Foundation Program on Great Power Competition and the Middle East.