Every hour the news is developing about Iran, Israel, the Gulf, Ukraine, and Russia. I thought it would be the perfect time to take a step back and look at the bigger picture and see how all of this relates to how the democratic world versus autocracies are faring right now.

So many questions have been raised in the last week about how well prepared Europe and America have been for a larger war. It seems like the United States had nowhere near enough interceptors than they anticipated. And now Ukraine is at the forefront of the new type of war that will be fought in the future.

So I asked Anne Applebaum what she thinks about where things are going and where we’re at right now.

She gave me a fascinating insight into how Russia, China, Iran, and autocracies around the world are watching very closely the divisions inside the democratic world. And as usual, she provided fantastic insight.