Reading Between The Lines in Russia and Ukraine: A Conversation with Ambassador Vesko Garcevic

05/12/22 • 52 min

We continue our series on the war in Ukraine. Our guest is Vesko Garcevic, former ambassador of Montenegro to NATO, OSCE, Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Vesko is currently Professor of the Practice of International Relations at the Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University.

We talk about what it means to diplomatically engage with Russia and whether it makes sense to think of it as a pariah state. We also take up some misconceptions about the role of NATO expansion in precipitating the current war.

Previous Episode

Making Russia Great Again?

Vladimir Putin wants to put Russia back on the map as a great power. But what does it even mean to be a great power in the nuclear age? Is that idea still coherent? If it is, can Russia be such a power? And how is Putin using history to frame this quest? What does his framing reveal about him and about contemporary Russia?

The second in a series of conversations with historian Vladimir Petrovic about the implications of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Resources:

Putin's February 21st Speech, preceding Russia's invasion of Ukraine
George Orwell's 1940 review of Mein Kampf
Salvador Dali's "Geopoliticus Child Watching the Birth of the New Man"
On Point interview with Alexander Vindman and Larry Wilkerson

Next Episode

Report from Kyiv: A Conversation with Journalist Alisa Sopova

We continue our series on the war in Ukraine. In this episode Vlado and I talk to journalist and anthropologist Alisa Sopova about what everyday life feels like in Ukraine as the war passes the 100 day mark. We discuss the regional differences in how the conflict is perceived, we ask whether Ukrainians have different views about Russian politicians and ordinary Russians, and we also talk about how Ukrainians perceive assistance from the west.

Alisa Sopova is an independent journalist from Donetsk in eastern Ukraine. She worked as a journalist and a news editor for the largest local newspaper, Donbass. When the war broke out, she was faced with the challenge of reporting on violence in her own city. With the local journalism collapsing, she began working for international media, including The New York Times and Time magazine where her coverage focused on the war and its humanitarian impact. Alisa is an author and co-founder of a #5Kfromthefrontline project (https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/5kfromthefrontline/) that aims to bring to light everyday experiences of civilian life at the frontlines. Alisa holds a BA in journalism from Moscow State University and an MA in Regional Studies from Harvard University. She is currently working on a doctorate in anthropology at Princeton.

Links to some of Alisa's pieces:

https://americanethnologist.org/features/reflections/be-strong-like-a-kitchen-cabinet https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/authors/alisa-sopova https://time.com/longform/eastern-ukraine-war-civilian-life-frontline/