SOAS Director's Lecture Series - War and Peace: the Conflict in Ukraine by https://padlet.com/SOAS_Events/phimwwzi069fbtd5 Please submit any questions you have for our speakers by clicking on the icon on the lower right-hand side of this page en-us 2022-03-01 11:55:50 UTC 2022-05-25 17:49:17 UTC hello@padlet.com Putin's Eurasianism and NATO opposition https://padlet.com/SOAS_Events/phimwwzi069fbtd5/wish/2197506604 Since Putin returned to the presidency for a third term in 2012, he has explicitly embraced a form of Eurasianism as a national idea that serves to give his regime legitimacy. This ideology positions modern Russia as a great power that exists "equal and opposite" to the West and deserving of parallel influence over its neighbours. 

In this context the options of 1 (placating Russia by promising no NATO expansion) and 2 (maintaining or extending Western support for Ukraine) both facilitate and feed the Eurasianist ideology Putin employs to legitimise his power. 

Instead, how can we undermine this Eurasianist/Euro-Atlanticist binary and delegitimise Putin's claims?]]> 2022-05-24 10:55:30 UTC https://padlet.com/SOAS_Events/phimwwzi069fbtd5/wish/2197506604 https://padlet.com/SOAS_Events/phimwwzi069fbtd5/wish/2198343550 ‘The trust that the Soviet Union had placed in the West, with the reunification of Germany and the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact, was not reciprocated because NATO was made‘
Do you think NATO is necessary?

Can it be argued that the decision Russia took was a defence rather than an offense? ]]> 2022-05-24 21:55:12 UTC https://padlet.com/SOAS_Events/phimwwzi069fbtd5/wish/2198343550 War In Ukraine: https://padlet.com/SOAS_Events/phimwwzi069fbtd5/wish/2198978088 Name: Hans Chanjack

Country: [Johannesburg], South Africa. 

Question:
Can we state bluntly that demise of prominent Centre left politics in Europe was exploited by Pres Putin aware that right leaning European politicians were unlikely to worry too much about Ukraine Invasion?
It was political weakness and fragility of Europe [rather than Nato encroachment] that emboldened Pres Putin to gamble. 

]]> 2022-05-25 07:22:27 UTC https://padlet.com/SOAS_Events/phimwwzi069fbtd5/wish/2198978088 War and Peace [Follow-up Question] https://padlet.com/SOAS_Events/phimwwzi069fbtd5/wish/2198997597 From: Hans Chanjack
Johannesburg, Rep of South Africa 

Question:
When it became clear
[as early as June, 2021]
to the US,
to Europe,
and
to the #USSG António Guterres
that Russia was pressing ahead with plans to invade Ukraine, powerless as we now know they were,
what viable & effective options other than just reporting truisms and platitudes were open to the somewhat fragmented ubiquitous Civil Society? 

Perish The Thought That Humanity Ever Allow a Crisis To Go To Waste]]> 2022-05-25 07:37:40 UTC https://padlet.com/SOAS_Events/phimwwzi069fbtd5/wish/2198997597 War and Peace https://padlet.com/SOAS_Events/phimwwzi069fbtd5/wish/2199365760 From Hans Chanjack
Johannesburg. South Africa 

Question
How does Prof Sachs suppose Russia would end Invasion simply by Nato & Ukraine vowing or renouncing intention to join Nato? 
He probably knows what no one else knows about Pres Putin's agenda. ]]> 2022-05-25 13:16:13 UTC https://padlet.com/SOAS_Events/phimwwzi069fbtd5/wish/2199365760 Russian Television is blocked within Britain and the European community. How is this to be distinguished from state censorship? https://padlet.com/SOAS_Events/phimwwzi069fbtd5/wish/2199672742 2022-05-25 16:53:25 UTC https://padlet.com/SOAS_Events/phimwwzi069fbtd5/wish/2199672742 Ukraine says it will not cede any territory. Comments? https://padlet.com/SOAS_Events/phimwwzi069fbtd5/wish/2199690013 2022-05-25 17:07:37 UTC https://padlet.com/SOAS_Events/phimwwzi069fbtd5/wish/2199690013 Penalties of boundary violation https://padlet.com/SOAS_Events/phimwwzi069fbtd5/wish/2199700430 Question: from Prof Sachs' analysis, it seems like his view holds that there should be no penalty regarding an illegal incursion into an internationally recognised autonomous territory? Does a negotiated settlement that allows Russia to hold territory that belonged to Ukraine in 2021 essentially put internationally recognised borders in doubt?]]> 2022-05-25 17:16:01 UTC https://padlet.com/SOAS_Events/phimwwzi069fbtd5/wish/2199700430 I an sat here listening to this discussion with a person who is an Ukrainian refugee. Why is the calculus here some kind of geopolitical analysis when it comes to the question of whether Ukraine should negotiate or not. According the the analysis we are hearing here, Ukraine and, more to the point, Ukrainian people don't matter. Why should they negotiate given that the war appears to be about abstracted concerns such as the composition of NATO? sh79 https://padlet.com/SOAS_Events/phimwwzi069fbtd5/wish/2199703127 2022-05-25 17:18:14 UTC https://padlet.com/SOAS_Events/phimwwzi069fbtd5/wish/2199703127 Comments https://padlet.com/SOAS_Events/phimwwzi069fbtd5/wish/2199703349 Sanctions won't work simply because western countries mainly continental Europe, rely heavily on Russia in terms of energy and agricultural goods. Therefore, no sanction is a real one. Putin knows very clearly that EU cannot live without Russia just like they cannot live without U.S. military support.]]> 2022-05-25 17:18:23 UTC https://padlet.com/SOAS_Events/phimwwzi069fbtd5/wish/2199703349 Why is the USA's response to India's abstention on the UNSC vote so much softer than China? It seems like the response to China is a lot more aggressive than to India- despite both nations not only refusing to condemn Russia but also refusing to impose sanctions. https://padlet.com/SOAS_Events/phimwwzi069fbtd5/wish/2199709635 2022-05-25 17:23:11 UTC https://padlet.com/SOAS_Events/phimwwzi069fbtd5/wish/2199709635 https://padlet.com/SOAS_Events/phimwwzi069fbtd5/wish/2199715102 Because India is U.S. ally while China is its enemy. Simple.]]> 2022-05-25 17:27:18 UTC https://padlet.com/SOAS_Events/phimwwzi069fbtd5/wish/2199715102