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Putin, Ukraine, and the New Cold War
Brookings Institution
October 2015
On Sale: September 21, 2015
230 pages ISBN: 0815726643 EAN: 9780815726647 Kindle: B00YI17RAI Hardcover / e-Book
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Non-Fiction History | Non-Fiction Political
Marvin Kalb traces how the Crimea of Catherine the Great
became a global tinder box. The world was stunned when
Vladimir Putin invaded and seized Crimea in March 2014. In
the weeks that followed, pro-Russian rebels staged uprisings
in southeastern Ukraine. The United States and its Western
allies immediately imposed strict sanctions on Russia and
whenever possible tried to isolate it
diplomatically. This sharp deterioration in East-West
relations has raised basic questions about Putin's
provocative policies and the future of Russia and Ukraine.
Marvin Kalb, who wrote commentaries for Edward R. Murrow
before becoming CBS News' Moscow bureau chief in the late
1950's, and who also served as a translator and junior press
officer at the US Embassy in Moscow, argues that, contrary
to conventional wisdom, Putin did not "suddenly" decide to
invade Crimea. He had been waiting for the right moment ever
since disgruntled Ukrainians rose in revolt against his
pro-Russian regime in Kiev's Maidan Square. These
demonstrations led Putin to conclude that Ukraine's
opposition constituted an existential threat to
Russia. Imperial Gamble examines how Putin
reached that conclusion by taking a critical look at the
recent political history of post-Soviet Russia. It also
journeys deep into Russian and Ukrainian history to explain
what keeps them together and yet at the same time drives
them apart. Kalb believes that the post-cold war world
hangs today on the resolution of the Ukraine crisis. So long
as it is treated as a problem to be resolved by Russia, on
the one side, and the United States and Europe, on the
other, it will remain a danger zone with global
consequences. The only sensible solution lies in both Russia
and Ukraine recognizing that their futures are irrevocably
linked by geography, power, politics, and the history that
Kalb brings to life in Imperial Gamble.
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