November 2nd, 2022

Those who ascribe to the Great Powers view of history, may interpret the Russia Ukraine war as a clash of political cultures, part of a wider geo-political game; they may go so far as to suggest that such a civilizational conflict was inevitable. But this interpretation ignores the agency of individuals, groups, and nations in making decisions and in some way absolves them of guilt for the crimes that are being committed on an unimaginable scale against individuals. This macro political interpretation also skirts over the illegality and corruption at the heart of Putin’s system of governance; the vertical power structure, rampant nepotism, the lack of checks and balances, rule of law and an independent judiciary is just as important in explaining how we got to this dangerous tipping point in history.