As Ukraine’s winter of domestic political discord transformed into a spring of territorial partition and instability, European and American officials seemed to be speaking from an agreed set of talking points in their public remarks on the crisis. While hopeful transatlanticists sought to construe this remarkable consistency as a demonstration of a new seriousness of purpose in the West, the litany of warnings, threats and prescriptions for resolution (inevitably characterised as either an ‘off-ramp’ or ‘de-escalation’) spoke more to the desperation of those uttering them to quickly find a new, stable equilibrium for Ukraine, Russia and the international system. Yet the talking points and buzzwords, no matter how many times they are repeated, do not in fact describe either a sustainable equilibrium or an end point to the crisis. Instead, the disequilibrium and instability triggered by the Ukraine crisis seems likely to endure for some time: the search for a ‘new normal’ promises to be long, costly and highly disruptive of both individuals’ lives and the international order. […]
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