The idea that Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine has pitted Russia against the world enjoys wide popularity, hampered only by the fact that it's not entirely true. While much of the world's population is horrified by the revival of wars of conquest, the united front of western governments and businesses (though with some arm-twisting behind the scenes) and the weaponization of trade and finance against Moscow have chilled even those unsympathetic to international predators. By demonstrating the ability to turn supposedly neutral institutions against those who anger powerful elites, the West prompted the world to seek out alternative channels, if only out of self-preservation. That may guarantee the end of relatively free global exchange and the return of competing economic blocs.
"The suggestion that Putin is isolated may still be something of a Western bias — an assumption based on a definition of the 'world' as places of privilege, largely the United States, Europe, Canada, Australia and Japan," Anthony Faiola and Lesley Wroughton noted earlier this month for The Washington Post. Even among those unsympathetic to Putin's aggression, there's a tendency to see just another "Machiavellian tug of war between Washington and Moscow," they added.
