The Return of Great Powers: Russia, China, and the Next World War by Jim Sciutto

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Jim Sciutto has given us a very interesting, and obviously timely, book on the new relationship dynamics between the great powers of the world. The post World War II order has not disappeared but is teetering, with an ascendant China, a revanchist Russia, and some like minded middle powers pushing hard to knock down the edifice largely created by the United States.

Sciutto gives us a focus on the great hot spots (Russia-Ukraine, China-Taiwan) as well as the close cooperation between Russia, China, and the smaller powers determined to change the dynamics of the international system. (Iran, North Korea)

Sciutto comes down fairly hard for stopping the Russian military expansion into Ukraine, and I was delighted that he included the perspective of Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas in the book. As we move further away from World War II many have forgotten the horrors visited upon the Baltic states by Russia and Stalin while the West was preoccupied with stopping the naked aggression of Adolph Hitler. The odious Molotov-Ribbentrop pact giving Stalin a free hand in the Baltics while enabling Hitler to invade Poland and start World War II allowed the Russians to simply absorb the Baltic states, including Estonia. Others may have forgotten that lesson but Prime Minister Kallas has not, and she is a strong voice giving warning about Russian intentions were they to win in Ukraine.

I think it important that Sciutto included some detail on the war game results conducted by The Center for Strategic and International Studies on a potential invasion of Taiwan by China. The results are fairly sobering, and despite plenty of public comment on these results they would likely be a shock to many Americans.

Sciutto talks about the difficulties inherent with today’s configuration of great powers for the United States. The U.S. has a strong alliance system in place, but the cooperation of Russia and China is creating major difficulties for the exiting world order. There are major flash points, and as Sciutto points out, fewer guardrails, between the great powers today. Sciutto has done a fine job of looking at the complexities, and dangers, inherent in these relationships.

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