Russia

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• SOURCE: The Conversation
  7/6/2023
  

  In Post-Soviet Russia, Children Have Been Propaganda Instruments

  by Clementine Fujimura

  Russian regimes since the fall of Communism have inherited and created crises of mass orphanage; their policy responses to parentless children have been informed by politics and nationalism at the expense of child welfare. Removal of orphans from Ukraine to Russia is just the latest instance. 

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• 5/28/2023
  

  The Mexican War Suggests Ukraine May End Up Conceding Crimea. World War I Suggests the Price May Be Tragic if it Doesn't

  by Alan J. Singer

  Ukrainian leadership would likely compare the abandonment of its claim to Crimea to be an injustice on par with Mexico's surrender of California and the southwest to the United States. Is it the least bad alternative? 

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• SOURCE: Foreign Policy in Focus
  4/24/2024
  

  Ukraine has Never been America's War

  by Lawrence Wittner

  A historian of diplomacy and peace movements argues that efforts to blame the war on American imperialism don't stand up to scrutiny. 

• 
• SOURCE: The Atlantic
  4/23/2023
  

  Putin Also Making War on Ukrainian Memory

  by Richard Ovenden

  Victory in war involves imposing one's own version of history on the next generation. Russian forces appear to be targeting Ukrainian archives where records of KGB surveillance and Soviet-era repression of Ukrainian civilians are held, part of an effort to delegitimize claims of independence. 

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• SOURCE: Boston Review
  4/26/2023
  

  How to End the War in Ukraine and Build Peace

  by Michael Brenes

  "The foundation of a progressive foreign policy, in my view, entails providing material support to countries suffering from deprivation and aggression in multiple forms—with such assistance reflecting the security and democratic interests of the United States and its people."

• 
• SOURCE: TomDispatch
  3/28/2023
  

  Will Ukraine be Remembered as the War of Surprises?

  by Rajan Menon

  Neither the perceived threat of NATO expansion nor Putin's alleged fears of liberalization explain the move to an all-out invasion. This uncertainty remains confounding, as has the progress of the war. 

• 
• SOURCE: The Atlantic
  3/7/2023
  

  Ignoring International Relations Scholars is Leading the US to Mistakes on Ukraine

  by Max Abrahms

  Punditry on the Ukraine-Russia war ignores a host of scholarship on international relations that suggests Russian apprehension about NATO is a legitimate influence on Putin's actions, and not just an excuse for aggression. 

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• SOURCE: Dissent
  3/7/2023
  

  The Left Should Reject an Alliance with the Far Right Against Ukraine

  by Michael Kazin

  The American left has always approached foreign policy with reluctance to impose America's will on the world. But that doesn't mean they should allow Russia to have its way in Ukraine. 

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• 3/5/2023
  

  Don't Forget the Private Sorrows of Ukraine

  by Walter G. Moss

  In Ukraine, as with all wars, statistical accounts of death and destruction risk depersonalizing the killing and obscuring the humanity of the victims. 

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• 3/5/2023
  

  Whose "Red Lines"?

  by Lawrence Wittner

  Far from promoting clarity and stability, when powerful nations declare "red lines" in their dealings with the world they declare their intentions to impose their will on others. Peace-promoting red lines must be drawn by more robust international cooperation. 

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  2/24/2023
  

  Is Ukraine Headed for a Cease Fire? And Is That the Best Option?

  by Sergey Radchenko

  After an essential stalemate between 1951 and 1953, a cease-fire in Korea enabled the parties to avoid both defeat and the cost of victory. Is this the best chance for resolving the war in Ukraine? 

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• SOURCE: The New Yorker
  2/17/2023
  

  Stephen Kotkin on How the Ukraine War Could End

  The historian of Russia and the USSR argues that Putin's invasion will ultimately be seen as a disaster for Russia. Its unclear, however, if that view is sufficiently widespread in Russia to change Putin's strategic outlook or the regime. 

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• 2/22/2023
  

  1918's Armistice Offers an Unsettling Model for Ending the Ukraine Conflict

  by James Thornton Harris

  Marshal Foch of France described the Treaty of Versailles as a "an armistice for 20 years." In Ukraine, the end of the shooting war will be only the first step in securing peace. 

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• SOURCE: The Atlantic
  2/14/2023
  

  Ukrainian Civilians' Experience of Violence

  by Anne Applebaum and Nataliya Gumenyuk

  Russian soldiers exposed to propaganda that Ukrainians were unwilling subjects of their local governments expected civilian support to capture political leaders; when this expectation was confounded, they unleashed violence. 

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  2/14/2023
  

  The Network Helping Russia's War Resisters Escape

  “In a situation where everyone is against you, including your own relatives, who think that you are a traitor and are ready to hang you from the nearest lamppost, I was extremely pleased to discover that there are people who don’t know you at all, who’ve never seen you, and they are ready to help,” said Oleg Zavyalov, 31.

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• 2/12/2023
  

  Russia's Courageous War Resisters

  by Lawrence Wittner

  While most Russians have chosen silence in the wake of Putin's harsh anti-dissent measures, and many military-aged men have opted to leave the country, a core of protesters have braved violence and imprisonment to denounce the Ukraine invasion. 

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• SOURCE: Substack
  2/8/2023
  

  Nuclear Fears Clouding Thinking on Ukraine

  by Timothy Snyder

  "Once we turn our attention to a hypothetical exchange of missiles, we get to imagine that we are the victims.  Suddenly the actual war no longer seems to matter, since our lives (we imagine) are at risk.  And the Ukrainians seem to be at fault."

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• 1/29/2023
  

  On Ukraine, International Law is Against Russia—But to What Consequence?

  by Lawrence Wittner

  If the United Nations can define the rules of international relations, but sufficiently powerful nations can flout them without consequence, it's time for a change in global governance. 

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• 1/22/2023
  

  Do Sanctions on Russia Portend a Return to the Interwar Order of Trade Blocs?

  by Carl J. Strikwerda

  The economic response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine has raised the specter of a new Cold War. But a better—and scarier—analogy might be the drastic contraction of global trade and the rise of colonial and imperial trade blocs between the World Wars. 

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• SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
  1/17/2023
  

  Training Ukrainian Troops in the US Part of a Long History of Military Advising as Foreign Policy

  by Syrus Jin

  Training foreign military officers in the US has, since the 1950s, aimed at more than military success. It's been a vehicle for developing foreign political leadership and expanding US influence.