The Ukraine Crisis: Preliminary Comments

The Ukraine Crisis: Preliminary Comments

by Shimon Stein, INSS

What will US-Russia relations look like in the next few years? Where is Russia under President Putin headed? Is a military conflict over the Ukraine crisis a possibility? Are we facing a clash of blocs? Are we on the verge of a new era in international relations, or are we going back to Cold War patterns? What are the interrelations between national interests and global norms? These are just some of the questions asked by those following the Ukraine crisis.

• Putin’s decision to annex the Crimean Peninsula while disregarding principles such as not annexing territory by force, compromising the territorial integrity and sovereignty of another nation, and violating signed agreements, highlights the tension between global norms and national interests. The violation of these and other norms that are designed to serve as a foundation for state conduct in the global era endangers economic prosperity and peace, and sacrifices them for the sake of narrow national interests. This in turn is liable to lead to international destabilization.

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