Understanding Putin's Criminal War in Ukraine - interview with Russia expert and publisher of The Nation Katrina vanden Heuvel

Katrina vanden Heuvel is the editorial director and publisher of The Nation magazine, as well as a columnist for the Washington Post. She is also the president of the American Committee For U.S.-Russia Accord and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Katrina has been studying, working in, and writing about Russia for decades. In columns leading up to the invasion of Ukraine, Katrina was warning that failures of diplomacy were leading toward disaster. In this conversation, we discuss what she believes those failures were. Katrina is no defender of Putin's regime, but she does believe that opportunities were missed to de-escalate the crisis, and that Western policy choices stretching back to the 1990s have made Russia's present aggression more likely. 

We also discuss the terrifying threat of nuclear weapons and the prospects for getting rid of them, and why it's critical to avoid further militarizing the world. Katrina's writings on Russia are both deeply-informed and uncompromisingly progressive, and she shows how those of us on the left can combine solidarity with the victims of Putin's war with strong critiques of American foreign policy. 

Katrina's recent columns on Russia and Ukraine:

• What A Sensible Ukraine Policy Would Look Like (Jan. 4, Washington Post)
• Stop The Stumble Toward War With Russia (Jan. 18, Washington Post)
• The Exist From The Ukraine Crisis That's Hiding In Plain Sight (Feb. 1, Washington Post)
• A Path Out of the Ukraine Crisis (Feb. 15, Washington Post)
• Putin's Invasion (Feb. 24, The Nation)
• We Must End The War on Ukraine—and Put an End To Perpetual Wars (March 1, Washington Post)
• War and Peace in Ukraine (March 3, The Nation)

Some of the people and writings referred to in the conversation:

• An excellent Behind the News interview with Anatol Lieven, whose work Katrina cites, can be read here.
• Stephen F. Cohen's book War With Russia? can be bought here.
• Voices of Glasnost can be bought here.
• John Mearsheimer's 2015 prediction that Ukraine would get "wrecked" as a result of the West leading it down the "primrose path" is here. His article expanding on his thesis is here.
• An article by Jack F. Matlock, the last U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union, on how NATO expansion worsened tensions with Russia, can be found here.
• Patrick Cockburn's column on why Putin's war is a disastrous blunder is here. The Current Affairs conversation with him is here.
• Nathan's article on prospects for World War III is here.

"There's a history to everything and the history right now is very hard to speak about, as blood flows, with images of bombardment and barbarism. But I think history will be important for what emerges, and what is possible to mediate and lead to a cease-fire."  — Katrina vanden Heuvel