Opinion | China, Russia and the West’s Crisis of Disbelief

Historical analogies are often lazy, and I cringe when I hear analysts liken the war in Ukraine and the West’s uncertain response to World War II and Munich. Yet as I watch the hesitant Western military effort—with the U.S., Britain, Poland and the Baltic states in the lead, Germany and France lagging, and the rest of Europe somewhere in between—I hear at least a rhyme.

The theme that comes to mind is “disbelief”—a widespread incredulity about the seriousness of the threat we face, which leads to unsteady leadership. It’s the product of decades of post-Cold War globalist dogma that weakened the West’s ability to acknowledge adversity and fight for what it holds dear.