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US-plaining is not enough. To the Western left, on your and our mistakes

Do not let half-baked political positions substitute an analysis of the situation. The injunction that the main enemy is in your country should not translate into a flawed analysis of the inter-imperialist struggle. At this stage appeals to dismantle NATO or, conversely, accepting anyone there, will not help those who suffer under the bombs in Ukraine, in jails in Russia or Belarus. Sloganeering is harmful as ever. Branding Ukrainians or Russian fascists only makes you part of the problem, not part of the solution. A new autonomous reality emerges around Russia, a reality of destruction and harsh repressions, a reality where a nuclear conflict is not unthinkable anymore. Many of us have missed the tendencies leading to this reality. In the fog of war, we do not see clearly the contours of the new. Neither do, as it seems, the American or European governments. 

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Background to the Geo-Economic Lineup of Russia / Ukraine and East-Central Europe

Based on all this, the ongoing conflict is between
– a richer (and of course very considerably larger) Russia that turns its economic performance into life spans of its population with relatively low efficiency (sort of like a state afflicted with what I would call a quasi-resource-curse), and
– a poorer (and, obviously, less gigantic–although by no means “small”–) Ukraine whose Life Expectancy figures are considerably higher than those of Russia, reflecting a less terrible linkage structure turning the country’s moderate per capita GDP into life spans for its population.

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Do Russians Want War?: Moscow on the First Day of the Invasion

Translated from the Russian original in Moskvichmag.ru. Editorial note: In the absence of meaningful sociological data, it is difficult to know what ordinary Russians think of their country’s war on Ukraine. (In pro-Kremlin media, of course, it is not a war but “a special operation,” “the defense of Donbas,” etc., and the accompanying imagery reflects […]

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LeftEast Condemns Putin’s Imperial War Against Ukraine

The members of LeftEast collective are aghast at the violent military aggression that has escalated into war in Ukraine. It threatens to cast our region into bloodshed of a scale that has not been seen in decades. We unequivocally condemn the Kremlin’s criminal invasion and call for the withdrawal of Russian troops back to the […]

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A Russian Invasion of Ukraine Could Destabilize Russia’s Political Order

The U.S. and U.K. officials and media have long been warning against the “imminent” Russian invasion of Ukraine. Whatever the prospects of such an invasion are, it also raises an important question about the character of the Russian political regime and how the invasion may change it.

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“My pink socialism became red as a wound”: Impossible interview from Ukraine

In 2000s Ukraine, Anatoli Ulyanov co-made online media dedicated to art, culture, and politics, and became recognized for his provocative writing style. After a series of violent attacks from the government-hired right-wing mercenaries, in 2009 Anatoli and his partner Natasha Masharova were forced to leave Ukraine, and eventually got asylum in the US. Two of […]

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The Conflict between Russia and Ukraine Is Neither Bluff nor Ultimatum

First published in French on December 30 in Révolution Permanente. Translation for LeftVoice by Scott Cooper. Moscow is amassing 100,000 troops on its border with Ukraine, whose government is seeking to lean on NATO to counter Putin. But even if Russian military intervention is central to that country’s defense, it is a very risky option. Are […]

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Ukrainians Are Far From Unified on NATO. Let Them Decide for Themselves

Note from LeftEast editors. This is a reprint, the article originally appeared in Truthout on December 28, 2021. After weeks of media scare about a purported Russian military invasion of Ukraine, the conflict may get a chance to be solved in a negotiated way. The public conversation on the current escalation of the Russian-Western conflict […]

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UK sponsors deregulation of labor rights in Ukraine

Proposed labour reforms, which the British Foreign Office has consulted on, could reduce Ukrainians’ rights at work. LeftEast is grateful to openDemocracy for the permission to reprint this article. The UK is supporting the deregulation of labour rights in Ukraine, openDemocracy reports today. Documents seen by openDemocracy show the British Foreign Office has advised the […]

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Ukraine in the vicious circle of the post-Soviet crisis of hegemony

Note from LeftEast editors: This is a slightly edited version of an earlier published text in German: Ishchenko, V. (October 15, 2021). Die Ukraine im Teufelkreis der post-sowjetischen Hegemonie-Krise. Ukraine-Analysen, 256, 8-10. After the 30 years after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Ukraine may give a unique perspective on the post-Soviet condition in general […]