We enter 2025 with two wars entering their final phase, but with no realistic basis for a long-term peace settlement. They have also ensured that global empathy has been totally diverted from other human tragedies, notably in Africa.

We are also entering a new era in US politics, with a President who promises to transform the USA’s international approach. This has generated much hand-wringing among strategic commentators about undermining the US-led liberal international order.

This dismay flows from a distorted analysis of the current global geopolitical scenario. It ignores the reality that the end of the Cold War set in motion major changes in the strategic geography across regions.

In Europe, the expansion of the EU changed its economic geography. As NATO moved eastward, with a corresponding contraction of the Soviet space, new security perspectives emerged that eventually led to the Russian annexation of Crimea and its invasion of Ukraine.

Pulished in Outlook India on 8th Jan 2025.