War in Ukraine: Backstories You Never Hear

Part Three of a Four-Part Series

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Mike Armour is a featured headliner on C-Suite Radio

This is the third program in a four-part series looking at aspects of the war in Ukraine which are rarely mentioned, if at all, in media coverage.

With this episode we shift from looking at the war through the eyes of the Ukrainians to viewing it from the Russian perspective. Whe do the Russians consider it so important to control Ukraine that they have been willing to sacrifice the lives of 300,000 men to this point for what are best modest gains in territory?

To answer that question, we look at historical factors, dating back centuries, which have made Russia an expansionist power. And we examine a sense of paranoia that is deeply embedded in Russian culture, so that they perceive themselves as surrounded by enemies both east and west.

We also look at the injury to Russian nationalist pride that resulted from the tumultuous way that the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact collapsed. Damaged pride causes people to become more determined to prove themselves. And paranoia leads them to make decisions which may to others seem irrational.

Both that injured pride and paranoia reinforce one another in what is playing out today in Ukraine. And they make it unlikely that any peace settlement, short of the annihilation of Ukraine, is likely in the foreseeable future. We wrap up this episode by looking at the prospects for an enduring peace, and find them somewhat slim.

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Check out other episodes in this four-part series.