How do we make sense of the war in Ukraine in a big-picture historical perspective? There have been many news stories, many podcasts and many channels looking at the unfolding events in Ukraine from day to day. In this podcast, however, Jeff Rich steps back from the daily news cycle, and sets out six common historical narratives about the war in Ukraine.
By seeing the truth and errors in all these narratives we are more likely to find our way back to the path of diplomacy and dialogue, and to live at peace with all the cultures that enrich this world.
Leave a comment below or vote in the poll - Are there any of these narratives that you have changed your mind on as a result of this video?
The six narratives are:
The Struggle for Ukrainian National Independence
The Ukrainian Civil War
Democracy vs Autocracy (World War Two, again)
Cold War Two
The Anti-Russia War
The Russian Empire Strikes Back
Key histories, videos and texts referred to in the discussion (with links to where you can view or buy) are
Serhi Plokhy, Lost Kingdom A History of Russian Nationalism from Ivan the Great to Vladimir Putin (2017) (https://amzn.to/3XlcqE3), The Gates of Europe: a History of Ukraine (2016) (https://amzn.to/3IWgjLf)
Nikolai Petro The Tragedy of Ukraine: What Classical Greek Tragedy Can Teach Us about Conflict Resolution (2022) https://amzn.to/3HcbSL3
Glenn Diesen (@GDiesen1) @theduran discussion with Nikolai Petro https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2IdIbCREuk
Niall Ferguson on Cold War Two https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-10-23/cold-war-2-with-china-and-russia-is-becoming-ww3-niall-ferguson and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kJrnLln2Ug
Joint Article of Russian and Chinese Ambassadors to United States on Democracy http://us.china-embassy.gov.cn/eng/dshd/202111/t20211127_10454275.htm (Also published in National interest, note Qin Gang is now Foreign Minister of China)
President Vladimir Putin (Russia), New Year Address to Nation 2023, is an example of the Anti-Russia War narrative (http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/70315)
Here Putin says, ‘For years, Western elites hypocritically assured us of their peaceful intentions, including to help resolve the serious conflict in Donbass. …The West lied to us about peace while preparing for aggression, and today, they no longer hesitate to openly admit it and to cynically use Ukraine and its people as a means to weaken and divide Russia.’
Dominic Lieven on Putin’s nostalgia for empire and the status of the soliviki Short Interview - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bG8L-BytAlw
Full discussion https://youtu.be/QkXZYqWJX6k
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You can buy my new book From the Burning Archive: Essays and Fragments 2015-2021 - https://amzn.to/3Bsq2EI.
You can check out all my content here - https://linktr.ee/burningarchive.
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82. Six Histories of the War in Ukraine in Search of Dialogue and Diplomacy