Commentary

Western analysts have failed to understand Russia for many of the same reasons they failed to understand the Soviet Union: a rejection of normative criteria. Editor’s Note: How do Russia and the West see one another? What are the experts’ views on the confrontation between Russia and the West? How do the pundits explain the Russo-Ukrainian war and Russia’s Syrian gambit? What are the roots of the mythology about Russia in the West, and...

Fighting continues to gradually intensify in eastern Ukraine. The Kremlin-backed militants are now using heavy weapons, including tanks, artillery, and ferocious Grad rocket systems, sporadically. Moscow's rationale behind this latest escalation is to achieve a frozen conflict by gradually sabotaging the execution of the Minsk II ceasefire agreement. Russian President Vladimir Putin likely realizes that his offensive in the Donbas has essentially stalled and that for now he cannot take more Ukrainian territory, not without sustaining heavy casualties among his regular military forces and triggering additional Western sanctions. And so...

It was a cold, foggy, and rainy night. The concert was set to begin at four in the afternoon, but by 16:20 it was clear that it would be delayed. People wandered about Khreschatyk Street not knowing what the planned schedule was. Nor did they know what to do with themselves: are we commemorating or celebrating the two year anniversary of the beginning of Euromaidan? November 21, 2015 was – weird. The day began with a 10:00 “meeting” (the kind they had during the Maidan) but it did not generate many attendees. Those who did come out walked up Institutska Street to protest the government. There were shouts and angry cries, but this peaked after a few hours and people melted away. Evgeny Afineevsky’s “Winter on Fire” also premiered in Kyiv and included replica barricades outside the movie theatre. The action, or inaction, occurred later, at...

Ukrainian nationalism was and remains an ideology that sprouted and developed as a national liberation movement in the modern era. It is not possible to designate one founder or main ideologue of Ukrainian nationalism. However, the following individuals contributed substantially to it with the first being perhaps, the foremost in his overall influence: Taras Shevchenko, Julian Baczynsky, Mykola Mikhowsky, Dmytro Dontsov, Petro Poltava, Osyp Diakiw Hornovyj and others. This spectrum consisting of ...

In early April 2015 the Ukrainian government approved several laws that should have been implemented several (roughly 25) years ago. Poland and the Baltic States already have similar legislative laws in place and yet the sole criticising voice to those laws was Russia – the West, and in particular, Western academics, remained silent to these countries’ decisions on how to frame their national history. Yet, in Ukraine, the reaction was very different. Basically, the four laws are: renaming the Great Patriotic War to the Second World War (and in so doing, acknowledging that the war began...

Russian President (for life) Vladimir Putin has proved himself to be a liar, a ruthless and maniacal tyrant, and a threat to the Western world; a world that espouses freedom, individualism, and peace. Putin’s Pinocchio-nose has grown off the page when it comes to Ukraine. While he bare-face lies to the world that the Russian army is not in Ukraine, Putin’s Russian army has invaded Ukraine, is killing thousands of Ukrainians, and is responsible in the...

What were NATO Supreme Commander, General Phil Breedlove’s thoughts when he heard that Boris Nemtsov, Russia’s political opposition leader and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s nemesis, was executed by four bullets to the back? Video footage of the cold Moscow night shows men getting out of cars, running, darting under the bridge, cars fleeing; a snowplow masking the execution. A beautiful Ukrainian woman is taken by police: Snare or victim? We may never know. She was taken into custody before being allowed to return to Kyiv on March 2. Such is the start of Putin’s “full and transparent” investigation. Crimes within...

Every November Ukrainians around the world pay homage to the millions of victims of the 1932-1933 Holodomor, a man-made genocidal famine that took place in Ukraine, imposed by Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin and his cronies. Eight decades later, Ukraine is again facing a Kremlin foe that is employing many of the same tactics used in Ukraine in the 1930s. As things stand, Ukraine is on the brink of all-out warfare with the Russian Federation. Up until this point, however, the war raging in Ukraine’s east has been an unofficial conflict with an unidentified foe. Dubbed an “anti-terrorist operation,” President Poroshenko and other top authorities had...

First, I have been informed that your sleighs and reindeer have repeatedly violated Russian airspace. If you do not cease these unwarranted violations of our sovereignty, I shall have no choice but to adopt the appropriate defensive measures. Remember that Russian troops could be in the North Pole in two days. Moreover, please be forewarned that we fully understand that the incessant jingling that accompanies your alleged "sleigh rides" is intended to scramble our air defense systems. I suggest you cease forthwith. Second, it has come to our attention that the language and culture...

Just how many unmarked tanks, rocket systems, and fighters have to cross the Ukrainian/Russian border before the international community calls it an “act of war”? How many tonnes of bullets, guns, and cash have to be fed to pro-Russia rebels before Russia is recognised as “a state sponsor of terrorism”? How many innocent men, women, and children - whether Ukrainian or non-Ukrainian - have to die for the sake of Russian territorial expansion? The precise number of weapons and combatants which Russia sent across the Ukrainian border is hard to count. But it is enough to...