Ukraine
The Ukrainian people are suffering
Vladmir Putin has started an illegal war. The Ukrainians have shown unity and righteousness, demonstrating our values better then we.
This may well be a turning point in history and global politics. We in the West have been saying many things and have much to consider. We should be deliberative and careful, yet urgency in action is needed.
By the “West” I mean more than is usually meant. I mean those who believe in Liberal Democracy, both those that do and do not live in such a country. Democracy is not the default and it can quickly return to Autocracy. It always needs to be fought for intellectually and sometimes with war.
I have found the following conversations helpful for furthering my own understanding and perspective of the war in Ukraine, the broader context, and the complexities.
Slava Ukraine
5 More Questions For Stephen Kotkin: Ukraine Edition
(best so far, imho)
March 3rd, 2022
Uncommon Knowledge - Hoover Institution
Last month, Uncommon Knowledge with Peter Robinson asked Princeton Professor and Hoover Institution Senior Fellow Stephen Kotkin 5 questions, all in the foreign policy and history realm. Since then, the world has changed in ways that were unimaginable just 3 weeks ago. So we asked Professor Kotkin to come back for a second round of questions, this time all dedicated to one topic: the Russian invasion of Ukraine. And as usual, his answers are concise, incisive, and analytic. If you want to understand this crisis and some possible outcomes, don’t miss this conversation.
Former MI6 Officer, Christopher Steele
March 11, 2022
Oxford Union
Christopher Steele is a former MI6 Officer who worked with the intelligence services for over two decades. He ran the Russia desk at the MI6 headquarters in London before co-founding a private intelligence firm. He authored the dossier that concluded Russia had collected a file of compromising information on Donald Trump.
Niall Ferguson | Ukraine, Zelensky, Putin & China
March 10, 2022
John Anderson
John is rejoined by pre-eminent historian Niall Ferguson to analyse the latest in the war between Ukraine and Russia. Ferguson, a regular traveller to Ukraine, heaps praise upon Ukranian president Volodymyr Zelensky, who is marking himself as perhaps the West’s most fearless leader, and predicts how the course of the conflict will transpire.
Many thanks go to Niall for taking time out of his frantic schedule to update John and his audience on this most important of world events.
Niall Ferguson, MA, D.Phil., is the Milbank Family Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and a senior fellow of the Centre for European Studies, Harvard, where he served for twelve years as the Laurence A. Tisch Professor of History.
Yes or No Fly Zone: Congressman Mike Gallagher on Ukraine Policy and Politics
March 8, 2022
Good Fellows
Have “false flags” given way to false hope in Ukraine? Despite the images of bold resistance, will Russian military setbacks eventually lead to a bad outcome for the citizens of that nation? Rep. Mike Gallagher, a member of the Armed Services and Intelligence committees, joins Hoover senior fellows Niall Ferguson, H. R. McMaster, and John Cochrane to discuss the latest news in Eastern Europe, US strategic choices, the war’s economic ramifications, plus China’s short-term (as peacemaker?) and long-term (to absorb Taiwan) aspirations.
Ukraine: The Context Behind the Crisis, with Faith Hillis and Monika Nalepa
March 4, 2022
The University of Chicago
Ukraine: The Context Behind the Crisis — In a March 4 conversation, Prof. Faith Hillis and Assoc. Prof. Monika Nalepa discussed the historical and political context behind Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
Hosted by the University of Chicago’s Graham School, the event examines possible motivations behind Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recent decision to wage war on Ukraine, and how those actions are connected to the region’s past. The talk is moderated by Seth Green, dean of the Graham School, a home for lifelong learning and transformative education for learners at all ages and stages.
Princeton experts discuss the global impact of Russia Ukraine war
March 4, 2022
Princeton University
Russia continues to try and seize key Ukrainian cities, while citizens are fleeing to Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Hungary, and Moldova. How should the West respond? And what does this mean for global migration and neighboring borders? Moderator Razia Iqbal of the BBC World Service will lead a conversation building on vital questions raised during our Feb. 25 panel on Russia and Ukraine.
Panelists:
- Filiz Garip, Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs
- Brian Katulis MPA ‘00, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress
- Michael Reynolds, Associate Professor of Near Eastern Studies
- Moderator: Razia Iqbal, Anchor, Newshour, BBC World Service; Visiting Lecturer in the Princeton Humanities Council
War in Ukraine | Yale Panel Discussion
March 4, 2022
Jackson Institute for Global Affairs
Yale University’s Jackson Institute for Global Affairs will host a timely panel discussion on the situation in Ukraine featuring the following panelists: Timothy Snyder, the Richard C. Levin Professor of History at Yale, Arne Westad, Elihu Professor of History and Global Affairs at Yale, and Nellie Petlick, a Jackson graduate student who previously served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in south-central Ukraine. Moderated by Jim Levinsohn.
Russia – Ukraine Conflict: Analysis and Outlook
March 4, 2022
Washington Speakers Bureau
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is an increasingly complex situation with far-reaching military, economic, humanitarian, and geopolitical implications. As we are inundated with information around this crisis, clear-headed analysis is more valuable than ever. Please join our LIVE analysis & outlook panel featuring Axios’ National Political Reporter & Emmy Award Winning Journalist Jonathan Swan who will be leading the conversation with Michael McFaul, John Brennan, and Richard Haass.
Historical Conversations: Russia vs. Ukraine
Friday, March 4, 2022
Hoover Institution
It should come as no surprise that history is at the heart of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Russian President Vladmir Putin in July of last year argued as much in his essay, “On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians.” But few if any Ukrainian or Western historians regard Putin’s argument as anything other than propaganda. Join us for a Historical Conversation with two distinguished scholars as we explore the end of the Cold War, NATO expansion, the rise of Vladmir Putin, and the events leading to today’s conflict.
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS:
Mary Sarotte is the Kravis Distinguished Professor at Hopkins-SAIS, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and a visiting faculty fellow at Harvard’s Center for European Studies. She is the author of Not One Inch, which uses new evidence and interviews to show how, in the decade that culminated in Vladimir Putin’s rise to power, the United States and Russia undermined a potentially lasting partnership.
Chris Miller is Assistant Professor of international history at The Fletcher School at Tufts University and co-director of the school’s Russia and Eurasia Program. His upcoming book, Chip War, explores how Soviet shortcomings in microchip production helped usher the end of the Cold War. He is author of We Shall Be Masters: Russia’s Pivots to East Asia from Peter the Great to Putin (2021), Putinomics: Power and Money in Resurgent Russia(2018) and The Struggle to Save the Soviet Economy (2016).
ABOUT THE MODERATOR:
Niall Ferguson is the Milbank Family Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and a senior faculty fellow of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard. He is the author of sixteen books, including Doom: The Politics of Catastrophe. He is a renowned historian of finance, war, and international relations, having written The Pity of War, The House of Rothschild, Empire, Civilization, and Kissinger, 1923–1968: The Idealist, which won the Council on Foreign Relations Arthur Ross Prize.
This talk is part of the History Working Group Seminar Series. A central piece of the History Working Group is the seminar series, which is hosted in partnership with the Hoover Library & Archives. The seminar series was launched in the fall of 2019, and thus far has included six talks from Hoover research fellows, visiting scholars, and Stanford faculty. The seminars provide outside experts with an opportunity to present their research and receive feedback on their work. While the lunch seminars have grown in reputation, they have been purposefully kept small in order to ensure that the discussion retains a good seminar atmosphere.
Vlad the Impaled
March 3, 2022
Good Fellows - Hoover Institution
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine produces a ripple effect across the globe militarily, diplomatically, and economically. Hoover senior fellows Niall Ferguson, H.R. McMaster, and John Cochrane discuss a vaunted Russian war machine that’s seemingly slipped a cog, an altered geopolitical landscape, plus the effectiveness of economic sanctions in ending both Russia’s presence in Ukraine and Vladimir Putin’s tsarist ambitions.
The Russian War on Ukraine: A Conversation with Ash Carter
March 2, 2022
Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School
Former US Secretary of Defense and Belfer Center Director Ash Carter offers his analysis of the invasion of Ukraine before taking questions from the audience.
Ukraine Crisis - Analysis by Experienced Negotiators
March 2, 2022
Harvard Business School
Prof. Deepak Malhotra & Jonathan Powell provide a strategic analysis of the Ukraine crisis and respond to audience questions. Topics include: the likelihood and types of further escalation, how the conflict is likely to end, the prospects for a future negotiated agreement, what parties should be thinking about with regards to negotiation, how to make sense of Putin’s strategy, what to do if Putin decides to use tactical nuclear weapons, how the sanctions strategy is likely to play out, what types of precedents might the current conflict create, how is the geopolitical landscape likely to change, the impact of the crisis on China’s decision making on Taiwan, and more.
Assessing the Russian Military Campaign in Ukraine
March 1, 2022
Center for Strategic & International Studies
Despite Russia’s invasion of Ukraine across three axes, Ukrainian forces and the Ukrainian people have conducted an extraordinary defense of their country. Please join the CSIS International Security Program for an update on Russian military operations in Ukraine and a discussion on the challenges and opportunities for the United States and its partners as they seek to assist Ukraine and deter Russian advances.
Seth G. Jones, Senior Vice President, Harold Brown Chair, and Director of the International Security Program at CSIS, will be joined by Eliot A. Cohen, Arleigh A. Burke Chair in Strategy at CSIS; Emily Harding, Deputy Director and Senior Fellow in the International Security Program at CSIS; and the Honorable Michael Vickers, former Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and CIA operations officer.
Former MI6 Chief On the Ukraine & Russia Conflict
March 1, 2022
The Oxford Union
Sir Robert John Sawers is a British intelligence officer, diplomat and civil servant. He was Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service MI6, a position he held from November 2009 until November 2014. He was previously the British Permanent Representative to the United Nations from August 2007 to November 2009. Sawers was a key opposition figure against the UK government’s decision not to intervene to a greater degree in Syria during his tenure.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – an event from the Centre for Geopolitics
February 28, 2022
Cambridge University
The University’s Centre for Geopolitics has convened an expert panel in Cambridge today for an emergency event to discuss the ramifications of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Panel:
- Prof Brendan Simms (chair), Director of the Centre for Geopolitics
- Charles Clarke, Former Home Secretary and Co-Founder of the Baltic Geopolitics Programme at Cambridge
- Dr Rory Finnin, Associate Professor of Ukrainian Studies, University of Cambridge
- Prof Jonathan Haslam, Emeritus Professor of the History of International Relations at Cambridge and author of the blog ThroughRussianeyes.com
- Bridget Kendall, Master of Peterhouse and former BBC Diplomatic Correspondent
- Iuliia Osmolovska, chairwoman of Transatlantic Dialogue Center, executive director of Eastern Europe Security Institute, former senior Ukrainian diplomat (by video-link)
- Edward Stringer, Air Marshal, Director-General UK Defence Academy
- Svitlana Zalishchuk Foreign Policy Advisor to the Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine on European Integration (by video-link)
What a Russian assault on Ukraine would look like
January 29, 2022
CaspianReport
#Russia is at the highest combat readiness in its modern history. About 127,000 Russian troops have gathered near #Ukraine’s borders. #War remains uncertain, but if Russia is preparing for one, this is it.
Why is Ukraine the West’s Fault? Featuring John Mearsheimer
September 25, 2015
UnCommon Core: The Causes and Consequences of the Ukraine Crisis
John J. Mearsheimer, the R. Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor in Political Science and Co-director of the Program on International Security Policy at the University of Chicago, assesses the causes of the present Ukraine crisis, the best way to end it, and its consequences for all of the main actors. A key assumption is that in order to come up with the optimum plan for ending the crisis, it is essential to know what caused the crisis. Regarding the all-important question of causes, the key issue is whether Russia or the West bears primary responsibility.