1 min read
He began with the early modern period, through the 19th and 20th centuries, when Ukrainian nationalism emerged out of the various contradictions of empires and vernacularization. We discuss what happened to Ukrainian nationalism during the Soviet Union. From there on, we ask him about NATO’s policy of containing Russia by using Ukraine as a proxy from the point of fall of communism in the region. We discuss at length the relationship between Ukrainian liberalism and the Ukrainian right wing. We also discuss about the beginning of the so-called “Orange Revolutions” in Ukraine from 2004-5 and how that strained the Ukraine-Russian relationship. We then asked him in detail about the events in 2014 and henceforth, and how all of that contributed to the recent turn of events. We closed by asking him about the future of peace, and the role of the West in it. His answer was that peace would come from Ukraine and Russia themselves, and the West has very little interest in it, other than using Ukraine as a proxy for their own interests.
5 mins read
April 30th is an important date in American politics. This is the day 100 for the American President in the White House, and all attention will be on the reports of his achievements and failures. But nothing can be more critical than Peace…
6 mins read
Russia’s invasion has made ordinarily outspoken critics of antisemitism wary of criticizing Ukrainian Nazi collaborators
1 min read
Richard Sakwa has for many years been one of the most distinguished and insightful observers of relations between the West and Russia, and one of the leading critics of Western policy. In this talk with Anatol Lieven, director of the Eurasia program at the Quincy Institute, Sakwa discusses his book, The Culture of the Second Cold War (Anthem 2025). The book examines the cultural-political trends and inheritances that underlie the new version of a struggle that we thought we had put behind us in 1989. Sakwa describes both the continuities from the first Cold War and the ways in which new technologies have reshaped strategies and attitudes.
