In Episode 311 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Serhii Plokhy, the director of the Ukrainian Research Institute at Harvard University and a leading authority on Ukraine, Russia, and Eastern Europe. Plokhii has published extensively on the international history of World War II and the Cold War and he joins Demetri to discuss the subject of his latest book on the Russo-Ukrainian war and the return of history.

This is a conversation about national identity, the disintegration of empires, and what will follow from the largest European land war since WWII. How will the Ukraine war's outcome inform the evolution of the international order? And what are the most compelling theories that explain Putin’s decision to invade in the first place? Was it to build a ‘greater Russia’ as some of his detractors have claimed or did Moscow face legitimate security concerns from NATO enlargement that on their own can explain the course of events? The answer to this last question holds important lessons about the future of European security and US policy toward China, which is what Demetri and professor Plokhy spend part of the second hour discussing.

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Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas

Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou

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Episode Recorded on 04/28/2023