Friday April 24, I am excited and curious to set foot in the Maidan, or Independence Square in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, a square that has played such a big role in the February 2014 revolution that ousted corrupt Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych. The first thing I see when entering the square is a small … Continue reading »
Putin
Is Putin out to destroy the EU?
By Yuriy Gorodnichenko, Associate Professor of Economics; Gerard Roland, Professor of Economics; and Edward W. Walker, Associate Adjunct Professor of Political Science Since Russia’s annexation of Crimea, tensions between Russia and the West have not abated. Nonetheless, it has been striking how much support Putin still enjoys in Europe, from intellectuals and politicians, from the … Continue reading »
Putin’s Endgame
By Yuriy Gorodnichenko and Gerard Roland (UC Berkeley) There is every evidence that Russian troops are fighting the Ukrainian army on the Ukrainian soil. This Russian invasion is a further escalation of the war between Ukraine and Russian-sponsored separatists and terrorists in the East of Ukraine. As soon as the Ukrainian forces were about to … Continue reading »
MH17
I flew to Ukraine on July 16, 2014. It was a typical flight and travelers thought they could abstract from the war in the East of Ukraine. The next day changed everything. Pro-Russian separatists shot down MH17, a passenger airplane with 298 people aboard, 80 of which were children. This is an unspeakable crime that has … Continue reading »
What is really at stake in Crimea?
By Yuriy Gorodnichenko and Gérard Roland By ordering the covert invasion of Crimea, Russian President Putin created an extremely tense situation not only in Ukraine but also in the rest of Europe. The official motivation for his actions, i.e. to defend Russians living in Ukraine, is a sham. There is no evidence of the new … Continue reading »