Ukraine remains broadly split between its pro-Russian western and southern parts, and anti-Russian western and northern parts. Regardless of what side of the argument you may be on, however, it is indisputable that the country has long enjoyed deep cultural, language, ethnic, and economic ties to its Russian neighbor — ties that cannot be merely dismissed as a plethora of Western ideologues suggest.
NATO expansion and enlargement lies at the heart of this crisis. Since the demise of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s this expansion stands as an indictment of Western foreign policy. Rather than view the event as an opportunity to end decades of division and tension in Europe, Washington and its allies viewed the end of the Soviet period in Eastern Europe as Rome viewed the fall of Carthage — with all of the arrogance and triumphalism of empire.
On this episode of Hard Facts, John is joined by Xavier Moreau, a writer and academic who specializes in Ukraine, to explore the ongoing crisis in all its various aspects — historical, cultural, geopolitical, and strategic. In so doing he asks the question: 'Does hating Russia really have to be a condition of being Ukrainian?'
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