Kotkin has refreshing opinions about the power of the current global states.

Stephen Kotkin interviewed by The New Yorker's David Remnick

https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/tnyradiohour/articles/what-trump-has-got-wrongand-rightabout-the-war-in-ukraine 

When Russia invaded Ukraine three years ago, one of David Remnick’s first calls was to Stephen Kotkin, a historian of Russia and a fellow at the Hoover Institution. He speaks with Kotkin again, as Trump is pressuring Ukraine to accept a “deal.” Kotkin doesn’t endorse Trump’s position, but notes that it reflects real changes in America’s place in the world and the limits of American power. “You can say that Trump is wrong in his analysis of the world, you can say that Trump’s methods are abominable,” Kotkin says. “But you can’t say that American power is sufficient to meet its current commitments on the trajectory that we’re on.”