Stacy Summary: Everyone knows the unipolar party is over; it’s just what comes next that remains to be seen.
Russia and economic warfare: RIP the free market new world order
Although Putin has no alternative ideology to offer, times have changed. This is now a messier, less clearly defined, multipolar world. It is not just that the pre-eminence of the dollar has been challenged by Russia’s announcement that roubles and yuan will be used in the oil deal it has brokered with China. It is not just that we are back to spheres of influence. It is not even that governments have become more interventionist and protectionist. It is that after the convulsions of the past seven years, it is hard to imagine a US president or indeed any western leader saying: “We know what works, the free market works.”
So RIP new world order. Born Berlin 1989. Died with Lehman Brothers September 2008. Laid to rest eastern Ukraine August 2014.