The Biden administration hopes the threat of harsh sanctions from a united West will deter Putin from invading Ukraine. But Russia has a long history of using energy to divide the US and Europe.
A US soldier at a training area in Germany.
Christof Stache/AFP via Getty Images
What’s the significance of the US beefing up its military presence in Europe? The Conversation provides a roundup of articles addressing the crisis in Ukraine.
A statue commemorating the Ukrainian famine, in which millions died.
Ukrainian Presidency/Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Ukraine was once known as the breadbasket of Europe, yet it suffered a devastating famine as a result of collectivist plans. That and other Soviet-era grievances have bred resentment toward Russia.
A live broadcast of Russian President Vladimir Putin speaking is shown on Dec. 23, 2021, from a media control room in Russia.
Eric Romanenko/TASS via Getty Images
America is being ‘hysterical’ about Russian troop buildups near the Ukrainian border. That’s the official news in Russia, where citizens are getting government’s preferred view of the Ukraine crisis.
A Ukrainian soldier uses a periscope to view the positions of Russian-led forces on Dec. 12, 2021, in Zolote, Ukraine.
Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images
As Russia threatens to invade Ukraine, Ukrainians wonder about the worth of a 1994 agreement signed by Russia, the US and the UK, who promised to protect the newly independent state’s sovereignty.
“Who could have imagined that it would simply collapse?” It’s been 30 years since the Soviet Union dissolved in the wake of a bungled reform effort by Mikhail Gorbachev - here’s what went wrong.
New age: the flag of the Soviet Union is taken down for the last time as the Russian flag is raised over Moscow for the first time.
EPA/ Vassili Korneyev
Former BBC reporter James Rodgers reflects on the end of the Soviet Union and finds lessons for today.
The International Space Station is a great example of how space has, for the most part, been a peaceful and collaborative international arena.
NASA Marshall Spaceflight Center/Flickr
Activities in space today are far more numerous and complicated compared to 1967, before humans had landed on the moon or Elon Musk had been born. Two experts explain the need for better laws to keep space peaceful.
Former South African President FW de Klerk photographed in Pretoria in 1989.
EPA-EFE/Walter Dlhadlha (AFP/via Getty Images), via
The rug designs tend to contain symbols – AK-47s, 9/11 and drones – that reflect an outsider’s understanding of war.
Kevin Sudeith, courtesy of WarRug.com
American intelligence has recognised there are four reasons why a ‘normal’ person might be convinced to spy.
A man reacts as he gets a shot of the one-dose Sputnik Light vaccine at a mobile vaccination station in St. Petersburg, Russia.
(AP Photo/Elena Ignatyeva)
Coverage of Russian vaccination rollout has focused largely on concerns about ethics of development and inconsistent messaging. But Russian-language research complicates this picture.
The US ambassador to the USSR, George Kennan, chats with a reporter in 1952 after the Soviets told the US State Department that Kennan must be recalled immediately.
Bettmann/contributor/Getty Images
Stephen Hoadley, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau
Kennan was one of America’s few true experts on Soviet affairs. He famously urged a “Containment” strategy to prevent Soviet expansionism, advising against military responses and arms build-ups.
A global treaty bans research or stockpiling of biological weapons — but allows bioweapon defense planning.
US Dept. of Defense via DVIDS
The sketchy history of international efforts to control bioweapons suggests that nations will resist cooperative monitoring of gene hacking for medical research.
Alexei Stakhanov’s official portrait with drill and miner’s lamp.
SPUTNIK / Alamy Stock Photo
The audio version of an in-depth article about a record-breaking Soviet miner from 1935 who embodied a system of values that is central to contemporary work cultures today.
US President Ronald Reagan meeting with Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov in the Oval Office in 1988.
White House Photographic Collection/Wikimedia Commons
Andrei Sakharov was one of the most brilliant scientists of the nuclear age. But he is best remembered today as one of the most fearless defenders of human rights around the world.
With Raul Castro’s resignation as first secretary of the Communist Party, the Castro era is officially over in Cuba.
Yamil Lage/AFP via Getty Images
Just as Fidel Castro’s 2016 death did not transform US-Cuba ties, his brother Raul’s exit from politics is unlikely to do so. But Cuba itself is changing. Eventually, Havana and Washington will, too.
Associate Professor of Instruction in the School of Interdisciplinary Global Studies, Affiliate Professor at the Institute for Russian, European, and Eurasian Studies, University of South Florida