Sarah Paine outlines how America should deal with the “quartet of chaos”

By Sarah Paine, professor of history and grand strategy at the US Naval War College

The second cold war began with Xi Jinping’s accession to power, Vladimir Putin’s disposal of term limits in 2012 and Russia’s ingestion of 7% of Ukraine in 2014. Both leaders have signalled that international norms no longer matter and they have deepened their relations with Iran and North Korea, portending a hostile alliance variously known as CRINK, the axis of upheaval or the quartet of chaos. In 2025, how should America respond to it?