Russia

By Angelos Chaniotis, Professor in the School of Historical Studies: 

"According to an anecdote known in several variations, some people debate what would have changed in the history of the world if Khrushchev had been assassinated in 1963 instead of Kennedy. A well-known statesman gave a sharp response: 'Only one thing is certain: Onassis would not have married his widow.'"

By Jonathan Haslam, past George F. Kennan Professor (2015–21) in the School of Historical Studies:

"Are sanctions against Russia working? Two months on from the first targeting of Russian banks and oligarchs, Putin's grip on power remains as firm as ever. This shouldn't come as a surprise: restrictions on Iran, Venezuela and North Korea have impoverished their populations, but haven’t led to political revolutions."

By Angelos Chaniotis, Professor in the School of Historical Studies:

"For years the European Union has been confronted with visible threats to its cohesion: Brexit, populist anti-European rhetoric, the violations of democratic principles and corruption in former socialist countries, the widening economic gap between member-states, the different reactions to the refugee crisis and to climate change."

By Jonathan Haslam, past George F. Kennan Professor (2015–21) in the School of Historical Studies:

"Just a few weeks before Vladimir Putin launched what he intended as a two-day Blitzkrieg in Ukraine, taking by surprise even some of his inner circle, he met Xi Jinping for a summit in Beijing. It appeared to the world as if the Chinese might have been implicated in what is the foreign policy gamble of Putin’s political career."

By Michael Walzer, Professor Emeritus in the School of Social Science:

"'A conqueror,' wrote the military theorist Carl von Clausewitz, 'is always a lover of peace. He would like to make his entry into our state unopposed; in order to prevent this, we must choose to fight.' The crime of aggression is to force men and women to make that choice."

By Angelos Chaniotis, Professor in the School of Historical Studies:

"The war in Ukraine has brought ghosts of the 20th century hovering over Europe: the leveling of cities by Russia, millions of Ukrainian refugees, the mass exodus of Russian dissidents to neighboring countries, the armaments race, and the risk of nuclear conflagration."

By Michael Walzer, Professor Emeritus in the School of Social Science:

"Condemnation has mostly been based on an entirely correct reading of international law. The Russian war is an unprovoked attack on a neighbor, an independent and sovereign state. It is clearly illegal. It is also, and this is more important, unjust."

By Adriana Petryna, past Member (2003–04) and Visitor (2006) in the School of Social Science:

"The Russian military’s capture of the Chernobyl nuclear facility in northern Ukraine last week led to heightened levels of both radioactivity and confusion. Since the infamous 1986 explosion at Chernobyl, which sent nuclear materials as high as five miles into the atmosphere and likely condemned far more people than the United Nations’ projected long-term death toll of 4,000, the plant has been radioactive. It’s defunct. Why would the Russian military want it?"

Previously classified documents from the U.K. Foreign Office revealed that David Floyd, a former Daily Telegraph reporter and British diplomat, acted as a Soviet agent. Jonathan Haslam, George F. Kennan Professor in the School of Historical Studies...