For the past nine years, Russian aggression against Ukraine has been driven by Moscow’s desire to derail Ukraine’s progress toward a European future. Russia’s 2014 invasion came in direct response to Ukraine’s Euromaidan Revolution, which was sparked when the country’s pro-Kremlin president Viktor Yanukovych sought to back out of earlier EU integration commitments. Today’s full-scale
In the early hours of July 23, a Russian missile struck and partially destroyed the Transfiguration Cathedral in Ukrainian Black Sea port Odesa. It was the latest in a long line of attacks on Ukraine’s cultural heritage that many believe reflect the Kremlin’s overriding goal of eradicating Ukrainian identity along with Ukrainian statehood. The attack
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, we have been reminded that a centuries-long struggle continues against imperial forces seeking to eliminate Ukrainian identity, church life, and the very right of Ukrainians to exist. As was the case during the Czarist and Soviet eras, the Russian Orthodox Church is playing a leading
The current Libyan situation is undoubtedly the product of many factors that would be too long to list and discuss in this paper. Nevertheless, there is no doubt that the conditions in which the 2011 Libyan revolution occurred are among the main causal determinants. That the revolt was considered a revolution of a whole people
The full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine has highlighted the very different developmental paths the two countries have chosen following the collapse of the USSR three decades ago. Although Vladimir Putin continues to promote Soviet-era propaganda depicting Russia and Ukraine as “one people,” it is obvious to independent observers that the divide between the neighboring nations
With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine now in its eighteenth month, the courage of the Ukrainian army and the resilience of the Ukrainian people have inspired the world, generating enormous amounts of international sympathy and goodwill. Audiences everywhere are rooting for Ukraine to win the war and succeed in its postwar reconstruction efforts. However, while Ukraine
South African officials confirmed on July 19 that Russian President Vladimir Putin will not attend next month’s BRICS summit in Johannesburg amid fears that he may face arrest in connection with a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court over his alleged role in the mass abduction of Ukrainian children. Putin’s decision to stay away
There is currently no end in sight to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but the debate over Ukraine’s postwar reconstruction is already well underway and continues to gain momentum. Attention is focused primarily on the challenge of physically rebuilding the country’s shattered infrastructure, with war damage currently estimated at over $400 billion. At the same
Vladimir Putin’s decision to launch the full-scale invasion of Ukraine was based on a series of disastrous miscalculations. The most significant of these was his belief that Ukrainians are really Russians. Putin has long insisted Ukrainians and Russians are “one people” who have been artificially separated by the fall of the USSR. For Putin, this
The attempted putsch by Yevgeniy Prigozhin and his Wagner troops in late June is perhaps best understood as a symptom of Russia’s ongoing imperial decline. Much like the invasion of Ukraine itself, it is part of a broader historical process that can be traced back to 1989 and the fall of the Soviet incarnation of
