Two years ago, the coronavirus pandemic took most of the world by surprise. Twenty-four months later, Russia's invasion of Ukraine caught us equally off-guard.

Neither should have. Not the risk of a global pandemic. Nor the risk of a totalitarian super-power invading a neighbour. Like China's designs in the South China Sea, Vladimir Putin's plans for a Russian sphere of influence have been hiding in plain sight. Russia's 2014 'annexation' of Crimea was hardly covert.

Yet the West - Kiwis included - have been culpably complacent. And not just to the threat posed by Putin.

New Zealand's culpability has several dimensions.

Our failure over the past week to match our allies' sanctions on Russia is a national disgrace. The lack of independent sanctions laws that would allow the Government to act unilaterally may have suited us in the past. By hiding under the UN's coattails, we could avoid taking sides. But this is no longer good enough. Not when one or other of China or Russia has the power to veto UN sanctions. The criticism of New Zealand’s inaction in the international press is well-deserved.

Our foreign investment regime is also problematic. It is hostile to benign overseas investment but impotent in the current crisis. As the Initiative's research has shown, there is scant need to regulate foreign direct investment. The obvious exception is to control the assets of hostile foreign interests – or their acquisition of assets. That the heavy-handed OIA provides the Government with no assistance in the current crisis is dismayingly ironic.

Beyond this, New Zealand has been careless with whom it is friendly and to whom it gives a cold shoulder.

We have shown indifference to foreign powers attempting to influence our media, universities, and political parties, even to the point of having had a foreign spy as a Member of Parliament.

And our lack of investment in any credible defence force and naïve disinterest in defence alliances leaves us poorly placed to help defend others or to defend ourselves.

All of these have contributed to our country's to-date lame response to Russia's war crimes in Ukraine. And they have exposed us to the risk of a similarly lame response when confronted with the next crisis.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine means we can no longer neglect our values. We must get our house in order. And we must take our place alongside other liberal democracies and stand up to evil, totalitarian regimes.