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The War Came to Us

This book review was originally published in the November/December 2024 issue of the New Zealand International Review .There is hardly anyone who has not weighed in with their comments about the Russo-Ukrainian War and opinions about how it will or should end. However, there are far too few who understand the civic and historical context to suggest a viable resolution. People often have trouble believing that the genocidal carnage unleashed by invaders on their neighbours in Europe is even ...

The Story of Wartime Kyiv

The full book review, published in the Australian Outlook of the Australian Institute of International Affairs , is accessible at this webpage.I Will Show You How It Was is a personal Ukrainian perspective on the realities of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, vital for understanding the nature of this war of aggression and the motivation of Ukrainians.I WILL SHOW YOU HOW IT WAS: The Story of Wartime KyivAuthor: Illia PonomarenkoPublished by: Bloomsbury Publishing, New York, 2024, 2...

Reflexive control and Russian disinformation

The full article titled "Reclaiming Truth: Reflexive control and Russian disinformation" was published in the Spring 2024 (Issue#33) issue of the Line of Defence Magazine (pages 26-29).LoD Editor: "[...] an extended article exploring the Soviet concept of reflexive control. It’s a concept that provides insights into Russian approaches to psychological warfare, and – importantly – for everyone else it can inform strategies to fight against misinformation."Extracts from the article...

The Russo-Ukrainian War and Mackinder’s Heartland Thesis

The full article (LINK) was published online in the Toronto-based international intelligence publication Geopolitical Monitor  on the 23rd of September 2024 . Sir Halford J. Mackinder: “Who rules East Europe commands the Heartland, who rules the Heartland commands the World-island; and who rules the World-Island commands the World.” Excerpts from the article:"Russia’s invasive ambitions are not limited to Ukraine, but stretch as far as those are tolerated by the wo...

What does the World not remember about Ukraine's history

The full article titled "What Has the World Forgotten about Ukraine’s History?" (LINK) was published online in the Toronto-based international intelligence publication Geopolitical Monitor  on the 15th of May 2024 .  It is s based on the presentation Ukrainian Perspective: Historical Heritage for the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs  expert panel on Ukraine, held on the 14th of November 2023 in Auckland.AbstractPeople outside of Eastern Europe s...

Has New Zealand Lost its Voice Amid Russia's Hybrid War?

This letter and attached referred report first appeared at the NAFO Asia Pacific website.Access Full report HERE.Dear Reader,Like most New Zealanders, you’re unlikely to want to get too close to the topic of war.You’ve probably heard about the devastating impacts of wars in the past in which New Zealand was involved, like Afghanistan, Vietnam, or the World Wars in which our grandfathers fought.You may have also watched footage or films dealing with historic genocides that happened before or ...

Before Ukraine: Russia’s armed forces in Moldova, Chechnya, and Syria

This article titled "Quasi-Internal Armed Conflicts as a Tool of Geopolitics: Russia’s armed forces in Moldova, Chechnya, and Syria" was published in the Summer 2023 (Issue#30) issue of the Line of Defence Magazine (pages 34-39).LoD Editor: "Taking an historical perspective, [...] the 2022 invasion of Ukraine is a recent example of Ruscism-fuelled expansionism, and that the international community’s failure to notice the pattern established by Russia in previous conflicts has ...

The War against Ukraine & How the World's Minds are Shaped by Theories

The full article titled "The problem of war" was published in the January/February 2024 (Vol.49#1) issue of the New Zealand International Review While scholars debated whether wars were declining or just transforming, in February 2022 the world sleepwalked into the biggest inter-state war in Europe since 1945. Despite the state aggressor (russia) being evident, some politicians, analysts and scholars managed to contrive alternative — sometimes truly Orwellian — versions of the...

Russia’s wars on Georgia and Ukraine

The original essay was written in March 2023, expanded in July and published as an article titled "Forestalling an existential threat" in the November/December 2023 issue of the New Zealand International Review The primary causes of the wars in Georgia and in Ukraine have been long-standing imperial ambitions of Russia being greedy for power and dominance, undermining the sovereignty and self-determination of smaller states, aiming to redraw national borders to control at least as much...

New Zealand's Foreign Policy and Defence

In October 2023 New Zealanders will vote for the representatives in the next parliament as they duly do every 3 years. Even with the biggest war in Europe since the Second World War and the world on the brink of wider conflict between liberal democracies and autocracies, common Kiwis could not care less. The survey from May 2023 revealed that only 1% of population consider foreign affairs and defence to be key issues government should focus on. There is a common notion that “NZ has to balance ...

Ukrainian children

Kia ora koutou!I have a pleasure to be Kateryna’s husband. It takes a lot of effort and time to engage various people here in Aotearoa and overseas to make exhibitions and events like this actually happen. And so first I want to praise Katia’s dedication and organisational skills. Please join me in applauding her humble leadership....Thank you!As my wife mentioned, all of this would not be possible without compassionate and supportive Kiwis, but vitally – many...

Bothsidesism and Ruscism

The lack of balance between tolerance and reason in the free speech of the liberal world order has been causing the strengthening of extremist narratives and trends worldwide. Inattention to clear signs of new fascist ideology – ruscism – fortifying in the state of one of the permanent members of the Security Council, and naïve assumption of its reasonable behaviour led to a monstrous assault on the sovereign European nation-state, regional security, as well as...

What role the US plays in the war in Ukraine and will it escalate?

Kiwis ask:"Could there have been a better strategy to deal with the bully? With the money the US is pouring in, when is it fair to call it a war between the US and Russia? The grave fear is of course that Putin will not back down while he still has the means to fight, and as we all know those means include nuclear weapons."Answer:The role of US, as I see it, is of a leader of the liberal world in both hard and soft power. It is like a bigger brother if you wish for smaller countries aspiring lib...

What does the invasion of Ukraine mean to Aotearoa and the World?

Answer:For New Zealand those are far-distant events, not many are paying real or constant attention to. It's a bothering noise for some they would happily get rid of - eg. promoting peace negotiations at this point or saying something silly like 'let's not humiliate russia' or 'putin had his reasons' - they would snap it like a mosquito (pushing for ceasefire) without thinking what consequences it bears for Ukrainians or for Europe and, I'm certain, for the whole world more broadly. Without exag...

Nationalism

The main strength of nationalism is its social perspective – it brings legitimacy to a state as a political entity representing people united by values and/or ethnicity. While political realism thinks about world affairs as chess moves generalising individuals into cumulative material or military resources, and mercantilism assesses where financial benefits lie, nationalism adds ideological pillar for a nation-state’s stability or formation. To give up some freedoms and control to a state pe...

Was NATO expansion a threat to Moscow?

Claim: "If the US and NATO had just stayed out of things, this wouldn’t have happened"Answer:To consider that NATO lured in Ukraine - means saying that it equally lured in Baltic states, other Eastern Europe states in 1990s and now is forcing Sweden and Finland. Does it look like to someone that Sweden or Finland are forced by Washington? I am confident that all those smaller states have been looking for an alliance to sustain a very real threat coming from ever imperialist appetites of Moscow...

Ukraine is still fighting

This article first appeared on the Craccum, published by the University of AucklandIt’s been a year since the rotten russian empire made a brutal attempt to turn history back by openly invading Ukraine. Exactly one year ago, numb but also shaken to my core, I was agonisingly writing a big piece about the first few days of the invasion, hoping that Craccum would publish it without a warning or planning. The good news—they did, and I am technically a published author now. But the bad news is t...

Why Ukraine can't stop fighting

Kia ora koutou! Ukrainians are people whose sturdy core Has never broken been by any knave. No matter plague, no matter bale, It has revived much stronger than before. Moscovia, so long you’ve ravened us: You used, assimilated, silenced, robbed en masse, You starved, deported, tortured, raped, and killed, But Cossacks freedom spirit never kneeled.If one decides to read, what is considered, Ukrainian classical literature, it’s easy to notice a common theme of struggle against foreig...

Stand with Ukraine!

Kia ora koutou! We are standing at the doors, doors separating peace and war… 10,000 miles away from here people of Ukraine are fighting an invasion at the Gates of Europe, an invasion of Good by Evil. Before you enter this portal, we encourage you not to fall into the deceptive comfort of perception that what you see is some distant crisis or localised conflict. Ask yourselves, from the height of history, would you now call the events of September 1939 a ‘Poland crisis or conflict’? – D...

We hope for a miracle

This article first appeared on the Craccum, published by the University of Auckland“It Feels A Shame To Be Alive” — Emily Dickinson.I would never have thought that the line Emily Dickinson wrote almost 160 years ago would turn into a feeling that burns from the inside of me and all Ukrainians who are not in Ukraine right now. We are all as one paralysed by fear, pain, and grief. But my brothers and sisters in Ukraine are forced to act without breaks for sleep or food because the desire to ...