Russia's brutal February 2022 invasion of Ukraine has attracted
widespread condemnation across the West. Government and media circles
present the conflict as a simple dichotomy between an evil empire and
an innocent victim. In this concise, accessible and highly
informative primer, Medea Benjamin and Nicolas Davies insist the
picture is more complicated.
Yes, Russia's aggression was reckless and, ultimately, indefensible.
But the West's reneging on promises to halt eastward expansion of
NATO in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union played a major
part in prompting Putin to act. So did the U.S. involvement in the
2014 Ukraine coup and Ukraine's failure to implement the Minsk peace
agreements. The result is a conflict that is increasingly difficult
to resolve, one that could conceivably escalate into all-out war
between the United States and Russia--the world's two leading nuclear
powers.
Skillfully bringing together the historical record and current
analysis, War In Ukraine looks at the events leading up to the
conflict, surveys the different parties involved, and weighs the
risks of escalation and opportunities for peace. For anyone who wants
to get beneath the heavily propagandized media coverage to an
understanding of a war with consequences that could prove
cataclysmic, reading this timely book will be an urgent necessity.