Dear Readers,

The world that existed last week no longer exists.

Shocked by Russian aggression, the Western world has rallied to Ukraine's defence, spurred on by images shared widely on social media of Ukrainian courage and the heroism of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The entire EU, US, UK, Japan, Canada, and Australia, have launched a financial assault on Russia, which is being described as the largest economic attack in history.

It appears clear that the Russian military did not prepare for widespread civilian resistance and for the Ukrainian military to fight in an unconventional manner. Ukraine is winning the information war, and the Russian army is experiencing significant losses. It is increasingly likely that a frustrated Putin will ramp up violence in ways that will devastate Ukrainian civilians, as well as risking an escalatory spiral with NATO—a nightmare of unprecedented dimensions.

Since last week’s newsletter, we have published four essays on the war. Former White House Counselor, Undersecretary of State, and special ambassador for the UN Secretary-General Matthew Nimetz has provided a comment on the conflict’s wider geopolitical implications. Francis Fukuyama similarly explains in stark terms why Ukraine matters to the West. Robert Tracinski uses the recent Olympics debacle to provide insight into a malignant form of nationalism, and a father shares a moving story of a family fractured by the invasion.

In the coming days we will have additional essays on the conflict, the renewed Western alliance, and the implications of the devasting assault on the Russian economy.

Warmly,
-Claire

The Consequences of Ukraine, 2022

So much is being written about the Russian invasion of Ukraine that more on the situation on the ground is unnecessary. Certainly, it is premature for a post-mortem on causes and responsibilities of a conflict that came on so quickly and unexpectedly. But it is not a bad time to

QuilletteMatthew Nimetz

Why Ukraine Matters

Vladimir Putin has launched a massive military assault on Ukraine, with the stated purpose of overthrowing the democratically-elected regime there and replacing it with one subservient to Moscow. Russian forces have arrived in the suburbs of Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv. Ukraine is a country I know well.…

QuilletteFrancis Fukuyama

The Olympics Debacle and the Illusions of Nationalism

The marquee event of the Winter Olympics, the women’s figure-skating championship, ended in a fiasco this year—a fitting climax to a games overshadowed by the oppressive climate in its host country and the growing threat of war from Russia. As it happens, those two things are connected and

QuilletteRobert Tracinski

An Englishman in Russia Bids His Daughter Farewell

I am an Englishman in Southern Russia. For nearly four years I’ve lived here, helping my Russian ex-partner bring up our (now) eight-year-old daughter. At 9 o’clock last night I saw both of them onto a sleeper-train to Moscow. From there they will fly to Italy and the

QuilletteRobert Ginzburg

The Rise of Hot Capital

Hot Capital is money that moves quickly and mimetically, following the latest fad or culture war skirmish. And right now, huge sums of money are being mobilized and channeled into projects, companies, and causes as a result of inflamed, rivalrous passions. The rise of this “Hot Capital”—made possibl…

QuilletteLuke Burgis

Expelled from a Progressive Think Tank—for the Crime of Denouncing Antifa Violence

On February 2nd, I wrote an opinion piece entitled “Beware the Anti-Fascists, for they have become what they oppose,” on behalf of the UK-based Centre for Analysis of the Radical Right (CARR)—a research centre for which I served, until recently, as a policy and practitioner fellow. That article bega…

QuilletteCraig McCann

Learning to Forgive the Father I Never Met—and the Mother He Seduced

My mother could always sense the difference, the alienation, between me and my father. It’s not that we didn’t get along. It’s just that there was almost nothing there—nothing in common. He was American football, girls, tailgating, hunting, the Air Force, that one story about being

QuilletteNick Comilla

From Around the Web

Ukraine, Looking Backward and Forward

Now that Russia has launched its massive invasion of Ukraine, it might be useful to look back at some of the discussion in the West prior to this event, and to think ahead to what may come next. Looking backward. The Russian troop build-up brought many of the early critics

American PurposeFrancis Fukuyama

Why Putin invaded Ukraine

The Russian president is trying to create a new geopolitical order, with him at the top.

New StatesmanBruno Maçães

A moment of clarity

The Russian invasion of Ukraine should wake us up.

NoahpinionNoah Smith