I haven't read any of the books that you reviewed, except Bloodlands and half of Applebaum's Red Famine, though I have read extensively on the history of Russia and Ukraine. I started to read Red Famine but two things stopped me. First, having read Bloodlands, I knew everything in her book about the Holodomor and second it was too horrible to read again. I've read a lot of biographies and other more in depth works which have given me a wide perspective of the history of the two countries. I also visited dozens of museums in Russia, including the museums and churches in the Kremlin. I visited house museums and battlefields and more.
Russia is an insane asylum of sorts. One day, I was in the house museum of Dostoyevsky, when all the old babushas got very upset. It seems outside on the sidewalk, a car had deliberately driven up onto the sidewalk and killed a half dozen people. When we went outside, they had covered the bodies with blood stained tarps. That same day, I bought a watermelon from a nice Azeri man who the next day was kicked to death by Russian skinheads who helped the police in their inquiries by videoing the entire incident. Two days later, I came out of my flat early in the morning and found a bum dead on the sidewalk, frozen to death. A few days later, I was going to the location of Pushkin's duel when we walked by a lifeless woman dead on the train platform. Everybody walked past the body without looking. On the same trip, I was taken to a huge cemetery on one of the islands in St. Petersburg where there were dozens of head stones for the young. My guide told me that there was an epidemic of drug abuse deaths in the city, lots of headstones with the portraits of teens killed that summer.
I met lots of Russians, One girl told me the story of her sister, who had married a guy in the mafia. They had gone to a birthday party, and when they left the party, the sister, her husband, and their 4 year old daughter, the car blew up and killed them, a car bomb triggered on a quiet street. I had lunch with one girl in a cafe. It turns out that we were not alone. There was a table with three guys, plus one guy watching one door and another guy watching the other door. There was a gangland war going on at the time.
One of my Russian friends got beaten up in the entrance to his building. He had come in late when it was dark and the guy was waiting for him. The husband of one of the girls who he was seeing on the side. It was a wild and crazy time, but I suppose pretty normal for Russia. One of my friends told me that there was something seriously wrong with Russia, something mentally wrong, because there was so much killing. I had been going to Russia since 1992 regularly visiting friends, seeing new places, and then Putin was elected President, and I decided to move to Kyiv, much saner place.
Russia has invested billions in their propaganda machine getting people not to see what you have seen or read what I have read. It had its effect. Many of the conservatives with whom I otherwise agree don't understand the nature of Russia and the importance of resisting them.
Most people who argue in favor of ending the war think only of the nukes or of the Russian perspective. I never hear anything about the Ukrainian people who are begging for more weapons. They are not asking for a peace agreement with Russia because they know it means nothing. Putin will not honor any agreement that is made. The Ukrainians are not thinking about the great game. They are thinking about survival. While the smart people discuss the consequences of war in warm rooms, Ukrainians are suffering. While the big brains in the west debate about the expansion of NATO, every other country near Russia is grateful for NATO. And every Ukrainian who knows anything about the past regrets that in 1994 they gave their nukes back to the Russians who guaranteed their territorial integrity. No other country will ever give up nukes because of what Russia has done.
You are right that the Ukrainian perspective is wholly overlooked. People take the NATO/US side or the Russian side. Ukraine is just a pawn in the game.
We are a legitimate people who have been abused by Russia for hundreds of years. Time for it to stop. We have our own customs, language, and borders. If Russia would simply respect them we could get along. They never have.
I haven't read any of the books that you reviewed, except Bloodlands and half of Applebaum's Red Famine, though I have read extensively on the history of Russia and Ukraine. I started to read Red Famine but two things stopped me. First, having read Bloodlands, I knew everything in her book about the Holodomor and second it was too horrible to read again. I've read a lot of biographies and other more in depth works which have given me a wide perspective of the history of the two countries. I also visited dozens of museums in Russia, including the museums and churches in the Kremlin. I visited house museums and battlefields and more.
Russia is an insane asylum of sorts. One day, I was in the house museum of Dostoyevsky, when all the old babushas got very upset. It seems outside on the sidewalk, a car had deliberately driven up onto the sidewalk and killed a half dozen people. When we went outside, they had covered the bodies with blood stained tarps. That same day, I bought a watermelon from a nice Azeri man who the next day was kicked to death by Russian skinheads who helped the police in their inquiries by videoing the entire incident. Two days later, I came out of my flat early in the morning and found a bum dead on the sidewalk, frozen to death. A few days later, I was going to the location of Pushkin's duel when we walked by a lifeless woman dead on the train platform. Everybody walked past the body without looking. On the same trip, I was taken to a huge cemetery on one of the islands in St. Petersburg where there were dozens of head stones for the young. My guide told me that there was an epidemic of drug abuse deaths in the city, lots of headstones with the portraits of teens killed that summer.
I met lots of Russians, One girl told me the story of her sister, who had married a guy in the mafia. They had gone to a birthday party, and when they left the party, the sister, her husband, and their 4 year old daughter, the car blew up and killed them, a car bomb triggered on a quiet street. I had lunch with one girl in a cafe. It turns out that we were not alone. There was a table with three guys, plus one guy watching one door and another guy watching the other door. There was a gangland war going on at the time.
One of my Russian friends got beaten up in the entrance to his building. He had come in late when it was dark and the guy was waiting for him. The husband of one of the girls who he was seeing on the side. It was a wild and crazy time, but I suppose pretty normal for Russia. One of my friends told me that there was something seriously wrong with Russia, something mentally wrong, because there was so much killing. I had been going to Russia since 1992 regularly visiting friends, seeing new places, and then Putin was elected President, and I decided to move to Kyiv, much saner place.
Russia has invested billions in their propaganda machine getting people not to see what you have seen or read what I have read. It had its effect. Many of the conservatives with whom I otherwise agree don't understand the nature of Russia and the importance of resisting them.
Most people who argue in favor of ending the war think only of the nukes or of the Russian perspective. I never hear anything about the Ukrainian people who are begging for more weapons. They are not asking for a peace agreement with Russia because they know it means nothing. Putin will not honor any agreement that is made. The Ukrainians are not thinking about the great game. They are thinking about survival. While the smart people discuss the consequences of war in warm rooms, Ukrainians are suffering. While the big brains in the west debate about the expansion of NATO, every other country near Russia is grateful for NATO. And every Ukrainian who knows anything about the past regrets that in 1994 they gave their nukes back to the Russians who guaranteed their territorial integrity. No other country will ever give up nukes because of what Russia has done.
You are right that the Ukrainian perspective is wholly overlooked. People take the NATO/US side or the Russian side. Ukraine is just a pawn in the game.
We are a legitimate people who have been abused by Russia for hundreds of years. Time for it to stop. We have our own customs, language, and borders. If Russia would simply respect them we could get along. They never have.