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In 2021, John Mueller wrote “War is on the Rocks” for War on the Rocks, in which he argued that interstate war was on the decline and was an institution no longer needed by international society. In response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and growing potential for a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, we asked him to look back on the article.Read more below.Photo Credit: Wikicommons (Photo by AlfvanBeem)In your article “War Is on the Rocks” written in 2021, you argued that interstate war was on the decline and that war is an institution scarcely required by international society. The following year, Russia invaded Ukraine. What can be done to bring back the period prior to the war of relative peace? I don’t think the trend has been reversed. We do not see a rise in the appeal of interstate war around the world. On the contrary, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s anachronistic foray on balance may well have reinforced the acceptance of the notion that such wars are profoundly stupid and counterproductive. His invasion has been embarrassingly beaten back, the local regime remains intact and defiant, countries in Europe and elsewhere have urgently and massively aided local opposition forces, Ukraine has become far more militarized and has moved to embrace the West, NATO has become more unified and closer, and distrust of Russia has increased greatly.Why do you think Russia chose war against Ukraine to achieve its goals?Over the last few years, the question, “What was Putin thinking?” has become something of a joke. However, judging from Putin’s speech as he sent his troops across the border, he had convinced himself that the venture was necessary to waylay a Hitler-like invasion of Russia that would be launched by NATO after its buildup in Ukraine was completed. That paranoid vision sold well at the time