Tag: #Russia

Putin’s Designs on Empire vs Putin’s Fear of NATO Encroachment

July 1, 2023

A number of essays have appeared over the past year regarding the actions of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in fueling Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine, a sovereign nation, in an attempt to overtake its government for the apparent purpose of preventing its assimilation within NATO. In essence, it was NATO’s gradual and willful encroachment upon Russia that was the crux of the matter. Putin’s stated goal, however, was to deNazify and demilitarize Ukraine because he saw it as a threat to Russia and all ethnic Russians in Ukraine. We have yet to see a lucid argument justifying the accusation and subsequent actions that doesn’t shame his regime and Russia before most of the world. … More Putin’s Designs on Empire vs Putin’s Fear of NATO Encroachment

Mr. Lavrov

May 25, 2023

There has been indication that Lavrov’s luster has diminished and his status in Putin’s orbit  has drifted into an extraplanetary domain. … More Mr. Lavrov

Russian Disinformation and the Inconvenience of Truth – 1941 and 2022

May 10, 2023

This is the scene that has been unfolding for Russia in its invasion of Ukraine. It is witness to familiar elements of what we have come to regard as the worst of humanity – indiscriminate destruction of cities, mass executions, kidnapping of children, displacement of millions of civilians, rape, forced prostitution and torture, highlighted recently by the savagery of beheading prisoners. The bare truth underlying this Russian invasion is that it is entirely unjustified. … More Russian Disinformation and the Inconvenience of Truth – 1941 and 2022

Poland’s Historically Troubled Relations with Russia

April 19, 2023

Often, when thoughts come to mind of eastern Europe, the Warsaw Pact or simply those nations immediately west of the old Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), it is Poland that comes to the fore. Since it has broken loose the chains of its Soviet-style socialist existence and regained a true sense of self-determination, Poland has announced itself to the world in a manner that suggests it is set to lead. It both speaks and acts boldly and is dictating its own destiny. … More Poland’s Historically Troubled Relations with Russia

The Kaliningrad Oblast – A Time to Detach?

April 1, 2023

What makes this particular border of interest is an outcome of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In response to its violation of international law, the European Union (EU), to which Lithuania belongs, imposed sanctions that have caused Lithuania itself to close its borders to certain goods traded by Russia or to transport of materiel otherwise designated. With its standard self-righteous script of indignation, Russia has threatened Lithuania with retribution, yet to be formulated, apparently. There is more to this, however, as the Kaliningrad Oblast happens to be of strategic military importance for Russia. It provides the only ice-free winter port for Russia’s navy on the Baltic Sea; that is, until climate change exerts its influence on the matter. … More The Kaliningrad Oblast – A Time to Detach?

The Isolationist Stance of the Uneducated

March 20, 2023

The comments made by some individuals vying for political relevance in the coming presidential race seem to have little to do with the reality of global affairs and more to do with voter appeal. More qualified authorities with a sense of world history, current geopolitical dynamics, military strategy, trade relations, humanitarianism and national identity are better suited for comment than those who merely seek distinction with provocative soundbites that pretend to show wisdom. When an effective global effort is underway in which the United States has taken the lead to address a crisis, American resolve should not be looked upon by the world as time-dependent and its promises restricted to the duration of a single presidential administration. There can be no assurance than that the welfare of the international community, including that of America itself, is under consideration and can remain secure in the long-run. This is particularly the case, when authoritarian regimes figure themselves to have permanency and have intentions of forever securing that state-of-affairs by whatever means available to them despite what history has repeatedly taught us. … More The Isolationist Stance of the Uneducated

Moldova and the Putin Playbook

March 11, 2023

Moldova, a nation of 2.62 million people, shares a 759-mile border with Ukraine to the latter’s southwest. It emerged from a troubled history in the 20th century having gained its independence in 1991 from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), only to be threatened again by Russian authoritarianism and imperialist aspirations as it enters the 21st. The country possesses a pro-Russian separatist territory to its east, a situation not unlike its neighbor, Ukraine, that is now in open conflict with Russia and also not unlike that in the Republic of Georgia, invaded by Russia in 2008 for similar reasons. The pattern is quite familiar and it underlines Russia’s intent to retake territory that history has somehow proclaimed belongs to it. … More Moldova and the Putin Playbook

To Light a Flame and Keep it Burning

February 21, 2023

A year ago, a war began on a scale not seen since World War II – a presumed “bear versus mouse” scenario was expected to unfold. But things went terribly wrong in short order for the bear. A president and his wife did not flee but stayed at home with their people while a nation came under attack. Ordinary citizens assembled themselves into territorial defenses to defend their villages, towns, and cities. Musicians, dancers, office workers, farmers, housewives and others learned the art of battle, armed themselves accordingly and improvised explosive devices; a partisan movement was reignited, recalling a history long embedded in this country. A military fought back and regained much of what was initially lost. In the course of this very particular year, the country suffered much – lives were lost, children abducted, families displaced. Atrocities were committed – mass executions, rape, torture, destruction of homes, hospitals, and energy resources all for the purpose of appeasing a despot’s desire to restore an empire which history had chosen already to dismiss. … More To Light a Flame and Keep it Burning

A History of Ukrainian Nationalism and its Partisan Movement

February 11, 2023

Global responses to efforts by Russia to label Ukrainians as Nazis have ranged from polite disbelief to cynical laughter over yet another clumsy propagandist attempt to justify its need to invade Ukraine. The label has served as a way of dehumanizing a people for daring to oppose what Putin believes to be Russia’s destiny. This opposition is, in reality, an expression of nationalism, an ideology that emphasizes loyalty, devotion or allegiance to a nation according to Britannica. Ukrainian resistance to Russian oppression has existed since the time of the Russian Empire dating back to the 18th and 19th centuries but, in the present day, it is convenient for Putin’s regime to conflate Ukraine’s sense of nationhood with fascist ideology. … More A History of Ukrainian Nationalism and its Partisan Movement

The Russian Language of Victimization and the Promotion of Vengeance

January 29, 2023

There has been a very consistent pattern of rhetorical atmospherics among prominent Russian officials promoting the notion that they have been threatened by the encroachment upon their border of the sinful West with its democratic ideals. The rhetoric would not have been alien to Otto von Bismarck 150 years ago when he lamented having to confront Russians with their ‘unpredictable stupidity.’ The messaging, however, has been largely, if not wholly, intended for consumption by the Russian populace which, sadly, either believes the nonsense regurgitated by state media, or is obliged to simply tow-the-line as they have been apt to do for centuries. Putin has made use of an undercurrent of Russian nationalism conflating it with the nation’s spiritual faith, to recall its historic struggle most recently against Nazi Germany. The struggle now, as Putin wishes to have Russia see it, is to save itself from Ukraine, a hitherto unknown bastion of neo-Nazism apparently only known to him, which has also chosen to align itself with the West and its assumed pervasive decadence. The shrill and anger of the delivery is meant to obscure the absurdity of the message but falls short for those who understand its intention. … More The Russian Language of Victimization and the Promotion of Vengeance