`The US has made mistakes'

– Do you think the deadlock on the Hill will last until November?

I honestly don't know. And I think a lot of people don't know. If I were to make a guess, I would lean towards the notion that they won't pass legislation supporting Ukraine, although it pains me to admit that. I think it's tragic. Interestingly, if a vote were held in the United States, particularly in Congress or the House, it would likely pass with a majority. However, the obstacle lies with a minority of Republicans who, with Donald Trump behind them, have basically stymied the operation. Mike Johnson says he wants to do it, but he has to choose between helping Ukraine and losing his job and unfortunately, selfish ambition has been a major factor in American politics.

– You mentioned before this the momentary unipolar world that lasted a couple of decades at most. Do you think the West showed some arrogance? Was there some hubris in its handling of situations like Iraq, post-9/11, the defeated of the Cold War etc?

I'll speak up for the United States, not the West. I'm a historian of American foreign policy. Mistakes are what we do. The United States is not a perfect country. Although, as I look at other countries and their histories, I don't think they're perfect either. So, the United States has made mistakes. It has fallen into traps, like Iraq, or Vietnam.

This stems from a sense of global responsibility that can lead to either bad or good decisions. But it's the same sense of global responsibility that has also kept the United States defending allies and sending troops, in unprecedented ways throughout history. So, you have to take both sides of it. In terms of the way the Cold War ended, I don't blame the West. Of course, some Russians are unhappy in the same way that some Germans were unhappy after World War I. That's the impact of defeat. What we're witnessing is Russia's attempt to regain a traditional hegemonic status in Eastern and Central Europe. But, if you really look at it, it doesn't really have the power, at least at the moment, to achieve that. So, it is trying to accomplish it by basically hoping for, and if possible sowing, division in the West, which allows its relatively weak position to be successful in Ukraine.

`The world has experienced a prolonged period of peace in terms of major conflicts among powerful nations. In order to have that world, you have to be actively creating that world. Much like tending to a garden to prevent it from succumbing to nature’s control,’ says Robert Kagan.