The Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022 has been justified by Russian President Vladimir Putin as a “special military operation” with a few barbed purposes, among them cleaning the country’s stables of Nazis. As with so many instances of history, it was not entirely untrue, though particularly convenient for Moscow. At the core of many a nationalist movement beats a reactionary heart, and the trauma-strewn stretch that is Ukrainian history is no exception.

Danish journalist Flemming Rose interviews AGON’s Michael Vlahos.

As the much-hyped counteroffensive against Russian forces stalls, the West is asking hard questions about the war in Ukraine.

In 1919, John Maynard Keynes was a young economist with the British delegation negotiating the Versailles Treaty. Keynes strongly objected to the harsh economic treatment being meted out to Germany. He resigned and went home to write “The Economic Consequences of the Peace,” which accurately predicted how the treaty would sow the seeds for future conflict. Had Keynes been alive last year, he might well have written “The Economic Consequences of the War,” predicting how the economic sanctions being placed on Russia would, in fact, unravel Europe’s political order.

It all tallies. War, investments and returns. The dividends, solid, though the effort expended – at least by others – awful and bloody. While a certain narrative in US politics continues in the vein of traditional cant and hustling ceremony regarding the Ukraine War – “noble freedom fighters, we salute you!” twinned with “Russian aggressors will be defeated” – there are the inadvertently honest ones let things slip. A subsidised war pays, especially when it is fought by others.

Don’t be distracted by stories on Russia trafficking troops from Cuba or tapping up Kim Jong-un for missiles, writes Mary Dejevksy. Putin is playing a very different game with his latest salvo in the bloody war

The US will reportedly send ATACMS to Ukraine — yet another advanced weapons system that the White House had previously ruled out.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said his Western backers failed to supply Ukraine with weapons in a timely manner, allowing Russia to build up its defenses. The delay is responsible for Ukraine’s lack of progress during its three-month-long counteroffensive.

Slow gains on the battlefield, a cautious West and Putin’s record of breaking deals contribute to a deadlock that Kyiv fears plays in Russia’s favor

Ukraine’s forces have around a month left to push back Russian troops from captured territory before the weather halts Kyiv’s progress, according to the U.S. military’s top soldier.