Russia's invasion of Ukraine accelerated fractures in the rules-based international order

Many countries remained neutral after Russia's invasion of Ukraine

Following Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, few nations outside the West imposed sanctions on Moscow. Major powers such as China, India, Brazil, and Turkey remained neutral, underscoring global divisions over how to confront Russian aggression.

The day Russia invaded Ukraine—an oral history

Experience the slow build-up to the Russian-Ukraine war, to the moment when it was clear Putin intended to invade, to the actual invasion and occupation in this oral history compiled by Politico. Multiple US and Western officials share their perspectives and thoughts on the war, how it's been conducted, and what can happen next.

The Russia-Ukraine war greatly affected the global food supply

Russia's invasion devastated Ukraine's agricultural sector, destroying farms, ports, and grain infrastructure and causing over $40B in losses. Disrupted exports fueled global food insecurity, while Moscow leveraged its grain exports to expand influence across the Global South.

Some experts argue that Russia was never effectively integrated into the rules-based order after 1991

This piece argues that Russia's difficult relationship with the IMF and World Bank in the 1990s—characterized by economic shocks and perceived Western condescension—helped shape Moscow's later hostility toward the liberal order.

Proponents argue that abandoning the rules-based order risks a return to the chaos that led to 2 world wars

Brookings scholar Robert Kagan warns that if China and Russia gain regional dominance, the world could return to the unstable conditions of the late 19th century—the same chaos that led to two devastating world wars.

China's relationship to the rules-based order is contested

In this piece, Paul Gewirtz, a professor of constitutional law at Yale Law School, argues that China has been a beneficiary, a rule-bender, and an increasingly assertive challenger of the rules-based order, aiming to revise norms it sees as reflecting Western rather than universal values.

Renewed competition between great powers is straining multilateral institutions

This analysis argues that the increasing US-China rivalry is fostering a more contested international environment—where shared rules and institutions are being challenged rather than reinforced.

The Russia-Ukraine conflict is the largest ground war in Europe since World War II

The Russia-Ukraine war began on Feb. 24, 2022, when Russian forces launched a multi-front invasion. The conflict has become Europe's largest ground war since World War II, reshaping global security, energy markets, and alliances.

Breaking down Europe's reliance on Russian energy (preinvasion)

One side effect of the Russian-Ukraine conflict is how it underscored European dependence on Russian natural gas and oil. This article, published days before the Russian attacks, outlines and illustrated how much gas and oil flows from Russia to Europe and the potential for either side to use sanctions to get what they want.

The global nuclear arms regime has slowly eroded over the past few decades

Both Russia and the United States have withdrawn from key Cold War-era arms-control pacts. Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine marked a turning point, as it suspended its participation in inspections and data-sharing agreements.

The Russia-Ukraine conflict is the largest ground war in Europe since World War II in casualties, forces mobilized, and displacement of civilians.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has destabilized safety and oversight at Chernobyl

Russian forces cut power and disabled monitoring of the decommissioned nuclear power plant in 2022, endangering operators at Chernobyl. In February 2025, a Russian drone struck the confinement structure—part of broader efforts to pressure Ukraine's energy infrastructure—punching a hole in the containment shell.

Language and region are fault lines in Ukraine's conflict

Ukraine's east and south—largely Russian-speaking—differ from the Ukrainian-speaking west and center. These geographic, linguistic, and cultural divides have become fault lines exploited by political and military conflict since 2014.

Breaking down Western military weapons in Ukraine

Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Western military aid has helped dictate Ukraine's capability and strategy on the battlefield. From advanced ground-launched missiles to millions of rounds of ammunition, the supplies have been critical for Ukraine but force Western countries to tip-toe around the appearance of direct conflict with Russia. This visual deep-dive breaks down some of the most important military aid to date.

Testing assumptions about the war in Ukraine, one year later

Two years ago, policymakers in Washington made multiple predictions about the course of the war between Russia and Ukraine. One year later this site revisited several common assumptions about the war—for example, that Russia would swiftly defeat Ukraine—and asks several experts if they came true, or not. But things can always change.

Russia annexed Crimea after a disputed 2014 referendum

On March 16, 2014, a disputed referendum in Crimea reported overwhelming support for joining Russia. Moscow annexed the peninsula two days later, a move widely condemned as a violation of international law.

Ukraine came under Russian imperial rule in the late 18th century

After centuries of division among neighboring powers, most of present-day Ukraine was absorbed into the Russian Empire by the late 1700s, marking the beginning of a long period of imperial control and cultural suppression.

The world reached historic levels of democracy under the rules-based order, though that trend has reversed

The share of democracies worldwide grew dramatically from the mid-20th century, reaching an all-time high in the early 2010s. Since then, the trend has reversed, with an increasing number of countries experiencing democratic backsliding.

NATO leads cyber war games in Estonia

Estonia is host to one of the world’s largest annual interactive cybersecurity drills. Russia is always considered the main threat, but this year, the war in Ukraine has only added to the stakes.

Mass protests in 2004 overturned a rigged Ukrainian election

During the Orange Revolution, Ukrainians protested against election fraud favoring pro-Russian candidate Viktor Yanukovych. Weeks of peaceful demonstrations led to a rerun vote, bringing Viktor Yushchenko to power and weakening Moscow's influence in the country.

Wartime conferences exposed cracks in the US–Soviet alliance

At the Tehran, Yalta and Potsdam Conferences, Allied leaders coordinated WWII strategy—but deep disagreements over postwar Europe foreshadowed the Cold War. The USSR’s push for influence in Eastern Europe clashed with US and British calls for self-determination.

The Council on Foreign Relations maps conflicts to watch in 2026

This interactive map highlights conflicts to watch in 2026, rating each by likelihood and potential impact and allowing users to explore detailed background on every potential hotspot.

The 1956 Suez crisis was one of the earliest tests of the rules-based order

When Britain, France, and Israel secretly invaded Egypt, the Eisenhower administration supported UN resolutions condemning the invasion and called for a ceasefire—publicly criticizing its closest allies to uphold the principle that force should not be used to resolve international disputes.

Mexico’s political chaos weakened its defense against US invasion

Mexico’s post-independence instability—marked by coups, power struggles, and weak central control—left its northern frontier vulnerable. That political fragmentation shaped Mexico’s unpreparedness during the Mexican-American War and helped enable US conquest.

Why is the Black Sea region strategically important?

This commentary is the first in a series of essays that examine the strategic significance of the Black Sea region to the US and NATO.

A podcast unpacking Pakistan’s political turmoil

Pakistan has been immersed in political crises for over 20 years. Despite being one of the world’s few nuclear powers, Pakistan’s internal instability has caused experts to question whether the country is, in fact, a failed state. Deep divisions...

The US Constitution is widely regarded as the longest-standing written national constitution still in force—see how it has influenced rights worldwide.

The rivalry between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson centered on federalism—the question of how much power the federal government should hold relative to the states.

Discover the catastrophic consequences of a failure of the US electrical grid—something that is more likely than many Americans think.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps is independent of Iran's regular army and is one of the most powerful and influential military-political organizations in the Middle East.

Gerrymandering works through two techniques: cracking opposing voters across districts to dilute their power, and packing them into a few to waste their votes in lopsided majorities.

Radioactive elements can introduce software errors because the ionizing radiation they produce can detach electrons from atoms, and computer code relies on the distribution of electrons.

Volcanic activity may have triggered the Black Death by spewing gases that led to crop failures in Europe, thus forcing the import of grain ships with plague-infested fleas.

Explore chaos in this simulation of two double pendulums, where small differences in the release angles produce wildly different outcomes.

Before humans, the Soviet Union and the United States sent animals—including apes, dogs, and cats—to space during the Space Race.

Fireworks make a loud booming sound after exploding due to air expanding faster than the speed of sound.

The 2026 Ebola outbreak is hampered by a lack of vaccine against the species of the virus, heightening the need for rapid tests to aid in disease control.

See 33 images that became central to huge scandals, including a young Charles and Camilla, Michael Jackson's baby on a hotel balcony, and Hugh Grant's mugshot.

A Yale student wrote a profound essay about the consulting industry's influence on elite college students that was published in a book of her writing after she died in a post-graduation car accident.

During the French Revolution, a botanist's letter asking about "dear Rhus" (poison ivy) was intercepted, leading authorities to suspect he was conspiring with the Russians.

See the 25 of the best photos of auroras from around the world.

The hormonal disorder PCOS was renamed PMOS in 2026, a move designed to improve care and research by shifting the focus to the hormonal causes of this condition that affects 1 in 8 women.

Famed poet TS Eliot rejected the manuscript for George Orwell's political fable 'Animal Farm,' writing that its criticism of authoritarianism was not 'the right point of view.'

The Dracula character, now seen as the vampire archetype, was inspired by a seafood-induced nightmare its creator experienced.

The Brothers Grimm were lawyers before they were storytellers, and became interested in fairy tales as they began investigating how rules and customs had been passed down through cultures.

Art theft is the third-largest source of criminal revenues worldwide, thanks in part to the subjective nature of valuing a work of art.

The US first hosted the World Cup in 1994, a tournament that lives in soccer infamy for its poor planning and the murder of Colombian player Andres Escobar, who'd accidentally scored on his own net.

The Great Salt Lake's distinct dual coloration results from high-salinity organisms that only live in the northern portion and produce a purple protein.

Most of the observable universe's volume consists of voids and supervoids—enormous regions of space with little to no galaxies, stars, or light.