The Ukraine Crisis in Context
The Ukraine crisis is a tragedy of untold proportions. It is an unjustified aggression followed by horrific, inhumane, and intentional attacks on the civilian population as well as on their hospitals, schools, and nuclear facilities. It also includes sieges of cities in which the innocent are prevented from leaving and humanitarian assistance blocked from entering. All are international crimes.
Beyond the impact on Ukraine itself, the crisis fits within a larger context. For some time, the post-World War II international order has been under pressure. What will replace it remains unknown. Putin has one version; China's leader Xi has his, al Qaeda, ISIS, and their ilk have a third. And the West is still developing its concept.
The Ukraine crisis begs broader, fundamental questions: What kind of world better improves the likelihood of peace and prosperity to the broadest swatch of the world? Is creating this kind of world worth fighting for, if necessary? Is a world where those that have the power to do what they want and those without suffer what they must a world worth preventing, by force if need be? And what are the roles that America should play in the emerging world order--diplomatic, military, economic, other?
These are not academic questions; they're real. No political speech will answer them, actions will. But actions entail risk--domestic and international. And some risks are pretty high. Are the risks worth the potential payoffs?
Lieutenant General (Retired) Jim Dubik will explore the Ukraine crisis and its larger context.
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James Dubik is a retired U.S. Army Lieutenant General, serving in the U.S. Army for 37 years. General Dubik holds a Bachelor’s of Arts degree in Philosophy from Gannon University, a PhD in Philosophy from Johns Hopkins University and a Master of Military Arts and Sciences Degree from the United States Army Command and General Staff College. He is President and CEO of Dubik Associates - an international consulting firm with a focus on leader development, organizational change, and national strategic and intelligence issues. General Dubik is also board member of Leadership Roundtable, a Catholic non-profit; Senior Fellow at the Institute for the Study of War; member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the National Security Advisory Council, and the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition; a 2021-2022 non-resident Scholar at the Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington; a 2017 Tomas B. Hagen Dignitas Award winner; 2012-2013 General Omar N. Bradley Chair in Strategic Leadership; member of the U.S. Army Ranger Hall of Fame; as well as a distinguished member of the U.S. Army 75th Ranger Regiment. He has published over 250 monographs, essays, and opeds in a variety of publications, and has been quoted in numerous print and on-line media, frequent lecturer, panel member, and media analyst on national security issues. He is the author of Just War: Strategy, Ethics, and Theory. He now lives in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife, Sharon.
