Russia's Total War on Ukraine: One Year Later

It has been one year since Russia launched its escalated invasion of Ukraine that has led to hundreds of thousands of deaths and millions of Ukrainians displaced, exiled, or kidnapped. We have been covering the Kremlin's genocidal ambitions and how Ukraine has been used as a petri dish for operatives to experiment with attacks on democracy since we launched Gaslit Nation in 2018. This brutal escalation was a long time coming -- and Ukraine knew it, which is why Ukrainians were able to fend off Russian invaders while the West offered only belated and limited support. We discuss what's changed since February 2022, what Ukraine still needs to win, Biden's recent visit, and the geopolitical consequences of the war for the rest of the world. We also discuss the importance of US territorial integrity and sovereignty as insurrectionists here seek to divide and conquer in a way reminiscent of (and often financially backed by) Kremlin operatives.

The rest of our episode is an interview with Ukraine expert Yana Prymachenko of Princeton University. From the university's website, "A native of Ukraine, Yana Prymachenko received her Ph.D. from the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. She was a research scholar at the Institute of History of Ukraine from 2003 to 2022. She joined the faculty at Princeton as Visiting Scholar in the fall of 2022. Her research interests vary greatly, ranging from the Soviet culture in the 1920s-30s, the history of the Second World War, the memory politics in Russia and Eastern Europe to the study of Soviet propaganda and informational wars."

For our bonus episode, available to Patreon subscribers at the Truth-Teller level or higher, we answer questions sent in by our listeners! We discuss whether Merrick Garland's failures are a feature or a bug, what to do when good causes get hijacked by bad actors, the continued attacks on LGBTQ Americans, the discrepancy between Biden's foreign and domestic policies, and much more! Gaslit Nation is funded entirely by listeners and we need your support to survive. If you appreciate what we do -- and would like bonus episodes and other perks – please join us on Patreon. Thank you!

Show Notes:

Join Andrea on Saturday February 25 at an upcoming virtual event to commemorate the one year anniversary of Russia's imperialist re-invasion of Ukraine.

She will be joining the all civic group "The Media and Democracy Project" for a streamed screening of my film "Mr. Jones" and have a "Q and A session" afterwards.

They will discuss the film, what role the media plays in defending against disinformation and authoritarianism - and what we can all be doing to support BETTER media.

Sign up for the event by going to the website: TINY.CC/mrjones

Admission is FREE Suggested donation to the Kyiv Independent - as we need to support "media AND democracy" in Ukraine (and here in the US).

In Taking Crimea, Putin Gains a Sea of Fuel Reserves https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/18/world/europe/in-taking-crimea-putin-gains-a-sea-of-fuel-reserves.html

Imperfect allies and non-state actors: Lessons from the 1991 no-fly zone in Iraq https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2021/05/28/imperfect-allies-and-non-state-actors-lessons-from-the-1991-no-fly-zone-in-iraq/