The Diary of a CEOKonstantin Kisin: Why the West can't enforce its own rules
Why international law was a shared myth that only the US could enforce; Britain's GDP fell over twenty years and nuclear proliferation now looks rational.
At a glance
WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT
Konstantin Kisin on a weakening West, Trump, and global disorder
- Konstantin Kisin frames today’s chaos—Ukraine, Iran, Taiwan tensions, and Trump’s aggressive posture—as the rapid disintegration of the post‑1945 (and post‑1991) order into a more dangerous, multipolar world.
- He argues “international law” and the “rules-based order” functioned as shared myths enforced mainly by US power, and that Western moral credibility and deterrence were eroded by Iraq/Afghanistan alongside Europe’s economic and military self-weakening.
- A major throughline is UK/Europe decline: high welfare burdens, deindustrialization, expensive energy policies (especially “net zero”), demographic weakness masked by mass immigration, and a hostile culture toward entrepreneurs that pushes wealth-creators abroad.
- The conversation also pivots to second-order effects: nuclear proliferation incentives if Ukraine isn’t properly supported, political extremism on both left and right, and AI/robotics potentially forcing radical redistribution if human labor becomes broadly obsolete.
IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING
5 ideasThe “rules-based order” depended on US-enforced power, not neutral law.
Kisin argues international law lacks a true enforcement mechanism; it worked largely because the dominant power could (and would) impose costs. As US dominance wanes and rivals ignore rules, the shared belief collapses.
Western weakness is viewed as an invitation to aggression.
He frames Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Hamas’s October 7 attack as “tests” triggered by perceived Western moral/military hesitation, rather than isolated surprises.
Nukes raise the stakes—and make proliferation rational for smaller states.
Bartlett’s observation that great powers pick on non-nuclear states leads to Kisin’s warning: insufficient support for Ukraine teaches others that only nuclear weapons guarantee security, accelerating proliferation risk.
Europe’s comfort model is strategically unsustainable.
Using the statistic “Europe is 12% of population, 25% of GDP, 60% of welfare spending,” Kisin argues Europe became complacent, underinvested in defense, and made energy/industrial choices that reduce resilience.
UK decline is economic first: weak growth, high taxes, and reduced capability.
He cites stagnant/declining GDP per capita, record peacetime tax burden, debt interest crowding out defense, and erosion of manufacturing (e.g., steel) as drivers of lost influence and reduced US consultation.
WORDS WORTH SAVING
5 quotes“What you’re seeing is the final collapse of the post‑World War II order… that entire framework… is disintegrating very rapidly.”
— Konstantin Kisin
“International law really was… a shared myth… there’s never been anything that could enforce that law other than the most powerful country in the world.”
— Konstantin Kisin
“We are not going to play by the fake rules anymore that no one else is playing by anyway.”
— Konstantin Kisin
“Britain’s GDP per capita is lower today than it was in 2006… per person, we have less money today than we did twenty years ago.”
— Konstantin Kisin
“If… the products of [robots’] labor only accrues to fifty people… redistribution… can happen voluntarily, or… at the end of bayonets.”
— Konstantin Kisin
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