Portside

A week for general strikes

The NATO issue did not trigger the war. However, the thoughtless expansion of NATO contributed to a climate of mistrust that was a factor in Russia’s moving in an aggressive, nationalist direction. But there are two more parts to the story.

The ubiquity and perils of imperial nostalgia, especially as empires decline, highlight the need to create an international security system to replace today’s international anarchy. 

Teaching college classes about the geographies of Russia and East-Central Europe, it is becoming clear that Putin’s ultimate goal is to carve off a distinct Russian-speaking region from Ukraine. The partition of Ukraine is very much on the table.