The Tragedy of Ukraine
On February 24, 2022 Vladimir Putin escalated the conflict in Ukraine which had been limited to the eastern Donbas region and Crimea, to what amounted to a full scale attempt to invade the entire country and replace the government of President Volodymyr Zelinskyy with a puppet regime. It has produced the largest conflict since World War II, and is replete with evidence of war crimes. The first stage of Putin's invasion of Ukraine stalled because of stern resistance from the Ukrainians, and what amounted to poor preparation on the part of the Russian military which forced Putin to redirect his efforts to eastern and southern Ukraine. With threats of expanding the war geographically, and the possibility of the use of chemical and even nuclear weapons, this conflict has become the greatest threat to European peace and stability since World War II.
The Tragedy that continues as the Arab-Israeli Conflict: Gaza
On October 7, 2023 Hamas launched a surprisingly well coordinated and diverse strike across the frontier with Israel. The attack included heinous acts of cruelty beyond some of the worst by any terrorist group in modern history. It included the taking of some two hundred hostages of mixed nationality, and has been called the worst attack on Israel and Jews in general since the holocaust. Israel’s response was unusual slow but developed into a full scale war in Gaza. To say that the IDF’s (Israel Defense Force) actions have been “over the top” is understating a situation that has turned into a humanitarian disaster especially for the two million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Since October 7 global sympathy and support for Israel has in most cases turned to condemnation of Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the extreme conduct of Israeli forces in this campaign. Negotiating cease-fires and hostage releases has been hampered by both the intransigence of Hamas and Netanyahu, and any hope of a long-term settlement remains elusive, indeed the possibility of a two-state solution would seem impossible while Netanyahu is in power. There is also the significant threat that this crisis may escalate into a regional conflict.
And Now A Fourth Gulf War: Iran
Iran has been a focal point of international relations and dynamics of power in the Persian Gulf and the Middle East in general for decades. It must also be observed that Iran has been a dominant power in the Persian Gulf off and on since 550 B.C. Great Britain, more or less policed the Persian Gulf from the 1800s to 1971 when it withdrew leaving Iran under the rule of Muhammad Reza Shah to reemerge as the major power in the region. The Islamic Revolution of 1979 ousted the Shah and established the Islamic Republic of Iran under the governance of Ayatollah Rouhollah Khumayni as Faqih. Under Khumayni Iran became a radical regime at odds with other states in the Gulf and in the world. Israel and the United States were particular targets of his ire. The Persian Gulf became part of power struggles that involved Iran, the Arab Gulf states, Iraq, and the United States through three Gulf Wars (1980-2011). Khumayni died and was replaced by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in 1989. Iran’s threatening policies included support of numerous radical groups in the region including Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, and the Houthis in Yemen. Iran’s growing nuclear capability led to international negotiations with the United States, the United Kingdom, France, China, and Russia and Iran that produced the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action for Iran (JCPOA) in 2015 by which Iran promised to limit its nuclear programs from producing arms grade materials for some ten year, allowing international inspectors to verify adherence to details of the agreement. The JCPOA proved successful but was heavily criticized by Donald Trump who tore up the deal in 2018 leaving Iran to expand it nuclear program, and the United States to take a more hostile position towards Iran. A series of events eventually resulted in a major conflict. On January 3, 2020 Trump authorized the assassination of Iranian General Qasim Sulamayni at a Baghdad airport for his association Iran backed militias in Iraq that had attacked American bases in that country. On June 22, 2025 a joint American/Israeli air attack, Operation Midnight Hammer, focused on Iran’s nuclear facilities resulting in some eight days of conflict. Trump claimed that Iran’s ability to develop weapon’s grade material was “obliterated.” On February 28, 2026 Israel and the United States began a more extensive air war against Iran, Operation Epic Fury, which began the so-called Iran War, or the Fourth Gulf War.
"Why the world wags and what wags it"
Understanding "...why the world wags and what wags it."
A realistic picture of the players and forces in 2020 international relations
How Covid has revealed the weaknesses of this era
The Realities of the New World Order
September 11, 2001 in Perspective
The Fall of the Great Powers, The End of History or a Clash of Civilizations?
Globalism, National Localism, and Monoculture
Still a Hostile World Arena…It’s a jungle out there (Thomas Hobbes).
The Imperatives of National Interest, National Security, and Sovereignty
Grim realities of the cyber-age
The end of the Great War and the Peace of Versailles
The end of World War II and the failures of 1944: Bretton Woods and Dumbarton Oaks
The Ukraine War
The Gaza Crisis
The Iran War, or the Fourth Gulf War
Readings
Brooks and Wohlforth, "The Myth of Multipolarity."
Kissinger, World Order, Introduction.
Haass, The World, Preface, and pay attention to his endnotes.
_______. “The Age of Nonpolarity.” (Canvas shell)
Huntington, "The Clash of Civilizations." (Canvas shell)
Fukuyama, "The End of History." (Canvas shell)
Stoessinger, Why Nations Go to War, Preface and Introduction.
Module #2
The International Territorial, Nation-State System
The End of the Cold War and Bipolarity
The Persistence of the Territorial State
The Birth of the State and the Modern State System
The Thirty Years War, from a medieval war of religion to a modern one of national interests
The vital role Cardinal Richelieu of France and his notion of raison d'état or reasons of state
National Interest, National Security, and National Sovereignty
Stanley Hoffmann's Ideologies of Violent Conflict, Nationalism, and Religious Fundamentalism
An Orderly System or an Anarchical Society?
Stanley Hoffmann's First and Second Tiers, and the Domain of Chaos
Readings
Stathis, "Understanding the United Nations." (Canvas shell)
Kissinger, World Order, Chapter 2.
Haas, The World, Part 1
Module #3
Non-State Actors
IGOs and NGOs
International Organizations/IGOs and NGOs
The United Nations
NATO
The European Union
International Economic Institutions and Potential Economic Crisis
Readings
Kissinger, World Order, Chapter 3.
Haas, The World, Part IV
Module #4
The Post-World War Two World
Attempts at post-war renewal
Beginning of the Cold War
International Law
Historical development
Institutions
Limitations
Statecraft or Statesmanship
The Dilemma of Statecraft: diplomacy or force, soft power or hard power?
Great Statesmen
Readings
Stathis, “Statesmanship and Politics” (Canvas shell)
Huntington, "The U.S.-Decline or Renewal?" (Canvas shell)
Stathis, Quo Vadis Pace Americana? (Canvas shell)
Kissinger, World Order, Chapter 5.
Haass, The World, Part I
Module #5
The Post-Cold War World
The end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union
The Future of the Superpower/The paradigm of imperial decline
Readings
Huntington, "The U.S.-Decline or Renewal?" (Canvas shell)
Stathis, Quo Vadis Pace Americana? (Canvas shell)
Module #6
Basic Theories of International Relations
Realpolitik, Realism, Idealism, and Neorealism
The Politics of Development
The Politics of Poverty or Development
Third World, Lesser Developed Countries (LDCs), or Developing Countries
The price of desperation
Crisis Management and Crisis Resolution
Preventing the escalation of a crisis geographically and in levels of violence
Causes of the Great War: World War I
The Cuban Missile Crisis
The Second Gulf War/Crisis Management vs. Crisis Management
Human Rights and International Relations
The Issue of Human Rights
The Use of Rape and Sexual Degradation as State Policy
Sovereign Rights vs. Human Rights
Peoples Without States: Nations and Refugees
Readings:
Stathis, "Thucydides” (Canvas shell)
Stoessinger, Why Nations Go to War, Chapters 1, 4, 7 and 8.
Kissinger, World Order, Chapter 4.
Haass, The World, Part II
Module #7
War
War: Policy by Other Means (Clausewitz)…Good God y’all, what is it good for? (Edwin Starr)
Conventional and Unconventional Warfare
The Era of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)
Nuclear War/The New Nuclear Threat: Nuclear Proliferation
Chemical and Biological Weapons
The realities of the cyber-age
Readings
Stoessinger, Why Nations Go to War, Chaps. 5, 7, 8, 9 and 10.
Kissinger, World Order, Chapter 6.
Haas, The World, Part III
Regional, Traditional Conflicts
The Arab-Israeli Conflict
The Persian Gulf: The Gulf Wars, the Fourth Gulf War-Iran
The War in Ukraine
Terrorism
The problems of authoritarian leaders: Putin, Trump, Kim, Erdogan, and Xi.
A new world of "spheres of influence"?
Readings
Kissinger, World Order, Chapter 7.
Haas, The World, Part III
Stathis, "The Pilgrims’ Road." (Canvas shell)
_______, "The Dynamics of Power in the Persian Gulf 1971-2016 ISIS/DA'ISH and the Inevitability of a Fourth Gulf War" (Canvas shell)
The Problem of International Peace
Peace Through Limitation (International Law, Arms Control, Treaties, etc.)
Peace Through Transformation (A world state by conquest or federation/a world community by cultural and economic globalization)
Peace Through Accommodation (Through diplomacy until change happens)
Diplomacy and Compromise
Moderation and Fanaticism-The Legacy of Raymond Aron
Morgenthau’s Ultimate Admonishment:
The first lesson the student of international politics must learn and never
forget is that the complexities of international affairs make simple
solutions and trustworthy prophesies impossible.
Alexander and Cosmopolis (oikoumene), a well-ordered universal community
Dickens' A Christmas Carol: Ignorance, Want, and Doom.
Readings
Kissinger, World Order, Chapters 8 and 9, and Conclusion.
Haass, The World, Where to Go for More.
Conclusions
Politics, insofar as it concerns the internal organization of collectives, has for its immanent goal the subordination of men to the rule of law. Politics insofar as it concerns relations among states, seems to signify - both ideal and objective terms- simply the survival of states confronting the potential threat created by the existence of other states. Hence the common opposition in classical philosophy: the art of politics teaches men to live in peace within collectives, while it teaches collectives to live in either peace or war. States have not emerged, in their normal relations, from the state of nature. There would be no further theory of international relations if they had. [2]
As can be surmised by the comments of Raymond Aron, post-
Cold War international relations still revolve around the territorial state which, despite the growing importance of non-state actors, remains the greatest source of power, however defined, in the modern world. The realities of that world are fairly simple: only one superpower survived the
Cold War-the United States, and there is only a limited possibility that another one will emerge in the short-term future, but there are limits to what a superpower can do; the nature of international power still favors financial, economic and technological elements of power, while poverty, disease, and lack of education still plague the peoples of the world, and even with the tragic horrors of September 11, 2001, terrorism, is nothing new, and has not reached the stage where it actually threatens the existence of any state, despite growing access to weapons of mass destruction. Stanley Hoffmann's references to the
ideologies of violent conflict as
nationalism and
religious fundamentalism remain accurate, and in their extreme forms these ideologies still pose a significant threat to the modern world.
[3] But as Aron concluded in the 1950s, the greatest threat to world stability and peace is
fanaticism, and his prescription for that threat would still be
moderation.
[4] And as Dickens' warned the world's greatest enemies remain
ignorance, and
want, a realization that must be addressed to avoid
doom. Finally, regarding these times, despite a world of sovereign states, the current crises in Ukraine, the Middle East, and Africa accentuate the need for cooperation, leadership and a certain sense of calm order in this world, but at the moment there seems to be waning cooperation, dwindling leadership, and a growing sense of chaos.
[1] Francis Fukuyama, “The End of History,” The National Interest 16 (Summer 1989): 3.
[2] Raymond Aron, Peace and War: A Theory of International Relations (New York: Doubleday 1986), 6-7.
[3] Stanley Hoffmann, “A New World and Its Troubles,” Foreign Affairs 69:4 (Fall 1990): 115.
[4] Aron, On War (New York: W.W. Norton, 1968), 109 and 120.