On Dec. 17, Henry Kissinger published an article in The Spectator, “How to Avoid Another World War.” In just over a thousand words, the 99-year-old doyen of the realist school of international relations argued that the time is approaching for a negotiated peace in Ukraine to reduce the risk of another devastating world war.
Kissinger compares the current situation in Ukraine to September 1916, when— in his opinion—an opportunity was missed to end the Great War on the basis of “a modified status quo ante.” His framework for peace through negotiation would “confirm the freedom of Ukraine,” including its link with NATO, “however expressed.” It would also “define a new international structure” and eventually enable Russia to “find a place in such an order.” Russia would need to disgorge its conquests since Feb. 24, but not the territory it seized in 2014— including Crimea—which could be the subject of negotiations and possible referenda after a ceasefire.