Insights, analysis and must reads from CNN's Fareed Zakaria and the Global Public Square team, compiled by Global Briefing editor Chris Good Seeing this newsletter as a forward? Subscribe here. April 1, 2022 |
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Fareed: Russia Is Clinging to Its Empire |
In seeking to understand Russia's war on Ukraine, commentators have debated whether the West provoked Moscow by expanding NATO too aggressively, or whether blame for President Vladimir Putin's revanchism rests solely with him.
But there's a different explanation, Fareed writes in his latest Washington Post column: "The Soviet Union was history's last great multinational empire," and the collapse of such empires, historically, is "always accompanied by bloody efforts by the imperial powers to hold onto their former territories. The French waged brutal wars in Algeria and Vietnam, and the British killed more than 10,000 people in Kenya during the Mau Mau rebellion. They did this simply because, in their view, the idea of being a great power on the world stage required that they hold onto these colonial prizes. Viewed through this prism, Russia's actions in Ukraine are perfectly predictable."
The perspective of the colonized, Fareed writes, shouldn't be given short shrift. "(W)hen we tell the story of Russia and the West," Fareed writes, "let's not forget to include Ukraine's desire—its determination—to be free and independent, and to fight and die for it, for perhaps that is the real driver of this story." |
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Is There Opportunity in This Crisis? |
Calling on the West to deliver more powerful arms to Ukraine, The Economist writes in a cover story that Europe and the US must seize a "historic chance" to solidify Ukraine as a free, democratic, independent state—thus beating back Russian expansionism durably, nudging Moscow toward a different politics after Putin, and solidifying a more workable security order on the continent.
That may sound optimistic, but few thought Ukraine could withstand Russia's onslaught, The Economist notes, and it's not the only observer to see Western opportunity in Kyiv's strong stand: At The National Interest, Ramon Marks hopes European NATO members' newfound interest in defense will live on, making Europe more self reliant and lifting America's burden of protecting its friends. |
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As Ukraine bears the brunt of Putin's offensive, Der Spiegel's Christina Hebel writes that Russians are suffering too. Amid discrepant estimates and official casualty numbers, Russian soldiers killed in action are arriving home for burial and mourning by their families.
Russian views of the war are mixed, Hebel finds, chronicling grief, boosterism, and belief in elements of Russian state propaganda (e.g., that Ukraine is rife with "Nazis") all at once. |
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Russia–Ukraine talks have produced some hope, but commentators have noted the specifics of any war-ending settlement will be difficult to hammer out. Ukrainian "neutrality" could take different shapes, as the Global Briefing noted yesterday, and Foreign Policy's Anchal Vohra points to another possible roadblock: Ukraine is seeking security guarantees, but it's not clear what protection the West can or will offer.
"(T)wo enormous questions remain," Vohra writes: "whether U.S. President Joe Biden, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, French President Emmanuel Macron, and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz are willing to commit to credible security guarantees that the future of negotiations depends on—and whether the Russian president wants peace at all." |
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Hungary will vote Sunday in parliamentary elections that will determine the fate of populist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, whose party is favored to retain power. At Foreign Policy, Paul Hockenos delves into Orban's appeal, which rests on a mix of nationalism, social conservatism, and a bucking of Brussels and progressive EU politics. Having warmed up to Putin in recent years, Orbán has cleverly dodged the issue of Ukraine by staying on NATO's side while keeping both Russia and the West at a distance, politically, Hockenos writes.
At The New York Times, Matt Apuzzo and Benjamin Novak list two other edges for Orbán: domination of the media by the Prime Minister and his allies and a new electoral law making it easier for ethnic Hungarians living outside the country to vote. |
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