Julie George, Professor of Political Science at Queens College and the Graduate Center, discusses the real motives behind the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the role of NATO and the U.S. in the invasion, the views of Russians and Ukrainians about the war, Putin’s miscalculations of the world’s reaction, and the prospects of nuclear weapons being deployed in the conflict, on the International Horizons podcast.

“It is not irrational — It’s about Putin’s Legacy”: The Russian Invasion of Ukraine with Julie George

March 7, 2022

David Harvey, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology and Geography, Graduate Center, and the Director of Research, Center for Place, Culture and Politics, writes about the end of the post-Cold War world order.

“What we are witnessing in the Ukraine conflict is in many respects a product of the processes that dissolved the power of actually existing communism and of the Soviet Regime. With the end of the Cold War, Russians were promised a rosy future as the benefits of capitalist dynamism and a free market economy would supposedly spread by trickle down across the country. Boris Kagarlitsky described the reality this way: with the end of the cold war, Russians believed they were headed on a jet plane to Paris only to be told in mid-flight ‘welcome to Burkino Faso.’”

https://www.versobooks.com/blogs/5282-remarks-on-recent-events-in-ukraine-a-provisional-statement

This Verso blog entry is taken from a talk given on February 27 at the 2022 Annual Meetings of the Association of American Geographers.

Benjamin Hett, Professor of History, Hunter College/Graduate Center, offers lessons on Putin from his expertise on Hitler’s leadership of Nazi Germany in an op-ed that appeared in the Los Angeles Times.

“Hitler’s example is the most devastating, but we see the same desperation in other dictators when they face the reality of failure. They become more brutal and repressive. Dictators are psychologically fragile: They need adulation and a sense of mastery, and they cannot tolerate loss.”

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2022-02-28/op-ed-putin-desperation-tyrants

February 28, 2022

Susan Smith-Peter was quoted in Women’s Wear Daily about Nike, Puma and H&M halting manufacturing operations in Russia:

“College of Staten Island history professor Susan Smith-Peter, who has written about Russia and Ukraine for 20 years, discussed the potential effectiveness of the sanctions Wednesday. “Will the sanctions end the assault in Kyiv? No. Will the sanctions help to show the Russian people and the elite that the entire world is horrified? Yes. If the goal is the second, it’s quite helpful. It’s a reasonable goal because what’s going on is unjustifiable,” she said.”

https://wwd.com/fashion-news/fashion-scoops/hm-nike-and-puma-alter-operations-in-russia-in-response-to-invasion-of-ukraine-1235114811/

March 2, 2022

Susan Smith-Peter, Professor of History at the College of Staten Island, talked to Ralph Bunche Institute Director John Torpey about the intertwined histories of Russia and Ukraine on the current tensions between the two countries. 

January 24, 2022

Pragmatism or ideology? A Historical Perspective on the Russia-Ukraine crisis with Susan Smith Peter

Subscribe to International Horizons on Soundcloud, Spotify and Apple Podcasts. A lightly edited selection of the transcript is on the Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies website. 

The punk band Pussy Riot has long known Putin’s worst intentions. Their impact, current status, and thoughts on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are the focus of this article in the UK’s Metro newspaper. CUNY’s Janet E. Johnson, Professor of political science, Brooklyn College, is interviewed:

“In the beginning, the way that they chose to protest was so radical compared not only to Russian society, but also in comparison to the existing feminist and women’s rights movements that existed in Russia,’ she says. 

‘Those before them had tried to play the game, and be a proper non-governmental organization that worked with the government, but also sometimes challenged the government. 

‘So, when they saw Pussy Riot weating balaclavas and making sexual innuendos about Putin, people thought they had gone too far.’ “

Russia’s most famous feminists: What Pussy Riot did next…

Graduate Center faculty Julie George, Manu Bhagavan, Thomas Weiss, John Torpey and Els de Graauw offer expertise from their knowledge of history, other regional conflicts, and migration to shed light on the current Russian invasion of Ukraine:

https://www.gc.cuny.edu/news/echoes-stalingrad-experts-weigh-war-ukraine

March 1, 2022