In South Korea this week, the specter of authoritarianism briefly materialized when Prime Minister Yoon declared martial law. Although it lasted only a matter of hours, Yoon may have felt encouraged by the incoming Trump administration. While democratic forces prevailed in South Korea this time, the situation is very different in Ukraine.
In Kyiv, we witnessed something previously unthinkable: Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has steadfastly maintained Ukraine's right to full territorial integrity since Russia's invasion, appeared to blink against Putin.
Zelenskyy's new apparent openness to temporary Russian occupation of Ukrainian territory marks a dramatic shift in position—one that reveals both the mounting pressure on Ukraine's military and democracy and the growing recognition of the evaporating Western resolve.
The Trump administration is stumbling over itself in floating peace proposals that align with Russian interests, even before potentially taking office. They even dispatched their new advisor to the Kremlin, only to be dismissed by Putin's spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov.
However, this dismissal wasn't a rejection of diplomacy; it was a calculated message. Why rush to negotiate when military realities and global dynamics increasingly favor Russian objectives?
It seems unavoidable that we will march into 2025 in a manner reminiscent of how the world marched into Munich in 1938.
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