The defeat of the West in Afghanistan and Putin’s war against Ukraine have now well and truly exposed such illusions. The foundations of western foreign and security policies are now on trial. How can we exist in this new world order? What are the challenges that we now have to face? What instruments of power do we have available to us? We need to take a realistic look at international relations. Real events have now confirmed the validity of Carlo Masala’s central argument. For this new edition he has included the most recent events and poses the question: what has to change for these new challenges to be faced?