In a discussion on global instability, Ben Rhodes highlights escalating conflicts and the collapse of the established international order. He points to crises in Ukraine, the Middle East, and Taiwan as examples of rising tensions between great powers. Rhodes warns of a potential return to pre-World War I dynamics, where countries act unilaterally without respect for existing norms. He emphasizes the need for addressing structural threats including climate change, artificial intelligence, and the risk of a new nuclear arms race as urgent national security priorities.
We're in this period where there is no longer the international order that governed geopolitics for the last several decades, and there is a normalization of conflict happening.
The possibility of great power conflict feels uncomfortably high right now... large countries ignoring norms and getting comfortable with territorial conquest without mechanisms to resolve conflicts.
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