Without historical context, which is buried by corporate media, it’s impossible to understand Ukraine. Historians will tell the story, but journalists are cut short for trying to tell it now.
Ukraine Timeline Tells the Tale
Tag: Boris Yeltsin
Trump’s Homework on Russia
As Donald Trump says he wants to end the war in Ukraine, Edward Lozansky recommends some background reading on the roots of the conflict.
JOE LAURIA: A History of Humiliation
After a history of U.S. bullying and humiliation — from a broken promise not to expand NATO to deceit over Minsk — it can’t be assumed Moscow is bluffing when it warns of nuclear war.
SCOTT RITTER: On Speaking Plain ‘Putin,’ Part Two
Because of their grossly inaccurate assessments of the Russian president and his country, “Putin Whisperers” in the West have Ukrainian blood on their hands.
Boris Yeltsin Privately Supported NATO Expansion Despite Public Stance
Declassified files show how Russia’s president, during the 1990s, repeatedly told Western counterparts he was “not against” expansion of the military alliance, Matt Kennard reports. He even devised an agreement to bring the Russian people onside.
The Autumn of Oligarchs in Ukraine
A dismal piece of Washington Post propaganda gearing up for a postwar, fully neoliberalized Ukraine leaves readers precisely where Jeff Bezos would want them, writes Patrick Lawrence.
When Gorbachev’s Luck Ran Out
There is an almost Shakespearean tragic quality about the late Soviet leader’s 1985-90 time in power, writes Tony Kevin. But Russian historians of the future may have reason to treat him kindly.
Chris Hedges: The Age of Self-Delusion
You can’t drain and impoverish the nation to feed an insatiable military machine unless you make its people afraid, even of phantoms.
A World Without Walls
Once the Russian government decided that integration with Europe and the U.S. was not possible, the West began to portray Putin as diabolical, writes Vijay Prashad.
DIANA JOHNSTONE: For Washington, War Never Ends
The formation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the rearmament of Germany confirmed that for the United States, the war in Europe was not entirely over. It still isn’t.