Putin is a despot trying to make his mark on history. No amount of appeasement from the global West would have stopped him from ordering the invasion.

If that was how it worked then we would have suffocated along ago under all the argon that sank to the bottom of the troposphere. The atmosphere is turbulent and extremely good at mixing gases of varying densities, and CFCs last decades before being decomposed or removed from the air.

The UN exists to provide a forum for discourse between states, not to be an international legislature. If resolutions actually had teeth the UN would cease to exist in its current form.

This is the most important thing I’ve learned since the start of my career. All those “clever” tricks literally just serve to make the author feel clever at the expense of clarity and long-term manintainability.