Russia

Boris Kagarlitsky - The main problem for the Kremlin authorities is not bad news from the front, but the growing crisis in the rear.

Bill Fletcher Jr., Bill Gallegos, Jamala Rogers - The Russian invasion of Ukraine has been met with strange responses on the part of segments of the USA Left and among many progressives.  While, generally speaking, there has been a strong condemnation of the Russian invasion, there has simultaneously been a tendency to excuse the Russian invasion and place the responsibility for the aggression solely on the US government (and NATO).  Not only is such an analysis factually inaccurate, but it arises from an analytical error rooted in a downplaying of the entire issue of the right of nations to self-determination.

Debates over the proper approach to the Russo-Ukrainian War have dominated much of the year. Yet discussions within the western left have not always featured the perspectives of Ukrainians and Russians themselves. The Real News Network board member Bill Fletcher, in partnership with Haymarket Books, hosts a panel with Ukrainian and Russian academics.

Against The Current - As Russia's invasion and its global impacts spread with ruinous impact, it’s high time for factual, political and moral clarity on what this war is about. That requires sorting out a great deal of ideological mythology on all sides.

Susan Watkins - A classic analysis of the Second World War defines it as the outcome of five different types of conflict. Might this type of analytical perspective throw some light on the present war for Ukraine? 

Chris Slee - Western imperialism certainly played a part in creating the context for the war. But it was Russian President Vladimir Putin who took the decision to invade, and he must be condemned for this.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine is having profound repercussions for the international system and the global economy. In this conversation, Boris Kagarlitsky discusses the implications of the war on the Russian economy, its financial sector, and the Russian elite. Furthermore, he nalyzes the ongoing crisis of globalization, in particular Western sanctions, rising commodity prices, and the current role of China.

Hanna Perekhoda - In order to understand Putin’s war against Ukraine and its people, one must take a close look at the place that Ukraine, its state, language, and culture occupy in the imperial and national imagination of Russians.

Simon Pirani - A look at the economic war being waged alongside the military conflict, the resulting disruption of energy markets, and their place in the broader social and ecological crises shaking capital.

Dave Holmes and Renfrey Clarke - The war in Ukraine is being used to massively intensify the West’s anti-Russia campaign. But the blowback from the sanctions regime is destabilising Western Europe and intensifying the suffering of developing countries.

Daria Saburova - While Russia's annexation of the regions of Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia should shed some light on what happened in 2014, some voices on the left are still accusing Ukraine of having provoked the current military escalation. This article looks back at the events of 2014-2022 to answer several questions that continue to tug at the heartstrings of the radical left and hinder its solidarity with the Ukrainian popular resistance.

Saladdin Ahmed - From the perspective of the ruling class in the West, anything short of unconditional approval of NATO’s policies is automatically perceived with suspicion, but that should not intimidate the left. The ongoing conflict between NATO and Putin’s regime is a capitalist conflict between imperialists.