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https://theconversation.com/is-nato-to-blame-for-the-russo-ukrainian-war-its-complicated-explains-historian-serhii-plokhy-201567>
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Review: The Russo-Ukrainian War – Serhii Plokhy (Allen Lane)
A year after Russia’s all-out attack against its neighbour on February 24 2022,
volumes trying to explain the conflict to the public begin to accumulate on my
bookshelf. Think-tankers, political scientists and journalists have been at the
forefront.
Historians, used to slow-burning research projects, have so far been absent
from this developing historiography of the war. This is beginning to change,
and it is only appropriate that the lead is taken by one of the most
accomplished English-language historians of Ukraine, Harvard University’s
Serhii Plokhy.
Plokhy, who grew up in Zaporizhzhia and began his academic career in
Dnipropetrovsk (both in Ukraine), keeps his outrage about Russia’s aggression
on a tight leash. There are no polemics in this book. The historian lets the
facts speak.
Interpretation is provided mostly in the form of narrative. This restraint is
remarkable: his sister still lives in Ukraine and a cousin died defending
Bakhmut.
Plokhy prefers “Russo-Ukrainian war” to alternatives like “Russia’s war against
Ukraine”. While the latter expression is well suited to emphasising Russia’s
culpability in this war, the former stresses that Ukraine is not just a victim
of Russia, but its equal.
The confrontation between these two countries has its own history. After the
1991 breakdown of the Soviet Union – in which they had formed two of the
largest republics – Russia and Ukraine drifted apart. Russia moved further and
further towards authoritarianism at home and imperialism abroad. Ukraine did
the opposite. This parting of paths is one aspect of the historical background
to this war."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
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mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
