A NOTE: Our Russia-Ukraine Resources are updated weekly - if you're accessing the page a week or more past the below date, pieces mentioned in this post may have been removed to make room for up-to-date resources.
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Updated Resources - November 1, 2023
Satellite imagery of Kyiv, Ukraine. (courtesy of Google Earth)
Satellite imagery of Kyiv, Ukraine. (courtesy of Google Earth)
KEY DEVELOPMENTS
Kyiv Independent: Newsfeed
Novaya Gazeta Europe: Newsfeed
The Insider: Newsfeed
Satellite imagery of Moscow, Russia. (courtesy of Google Earth)
WHAT'S ON OUR MIND
As cross-border conflict grows more inescapable in this era - evidenced by the Ukraine War, Israel-Hamas War, US-China tensions, and conflict in the Caucasus to name but a few - there is value in examining how we engage with and conceptualize war in the modern age. In today’s collection we gain a bit of altitude, creating space to contemplate our perceptions of war - the mechanisms by which we consume it, our interpretations and extrapolations about its participants, and the conditions under which it arises.
To start, we explore contemporary consumption of information. The New Yorker offers commentary on the extent to which both the medium - advancements in photographic technology, including the use of drone footage - and the sheer deluge of imagery shape our perception of war. In another piece, the publication warns of social media’s power to distort our understanding of events unfolding in real time, cementing perspectives on conflicts that are, by nature, fluid and obscured in the ‘fog of war’. Wired shares a discussion amongst experts on the worrying intersection of generative AI and misinformation.The Conversation presents three vital pieces in this vein. One examines the use of deepfakes to manipulate perception in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Another offers guidance from a psychiatric expert on PTSD on protecting yourself and younger loved ones from violent and disturbing imagery. The final piece provides insight into the increasingly prevalent ‘digital activism,’ covering its potential, limitations, and increased significance in times of war.
Pieces from Russia.Post and and Foreign Affairs interrogate our interpretations of the relationship between people and war. The former cautions against unfounded and oversimplified conclusions about the Russian public’s attitudes and beliefs towards the Ukraine War. The latter explores John Mearsheimer and Sebastian Rosato’s contemplations on the factors that guide world leaders’ foreign policy decisions, including rationality.
We also consider the conditions - within and beyond borders - that set the stage for war. Foreign Affairs examines the current global trend towards violent conflict. Russia in Global Affairs offers two interpretations of the ‘Russian Idea’ as both a fortress against the West and as a bridge connecting different civilizations, shedding light on the ideology that many experts believe paved the way for the invasion of Ukraine. Finally, The Conversation and The New Voice explore the role of mythologies in both the Russian and Ukrainian war effort, respectively.
In addition to these birds eye views, we share Responsible Statecraft’s update on the status of diplomatic efforts between Russia and Ukraine, RT and Haaretz on the confrontation of Israelis in Dagestan, and visit our blog for new pieces on the intersection of the Israel-Hamas War and the Ukraine War.
In videos, interviews with Russian POWs in Ukraine and Fiona Hill on the broader conflict. In the arts, how art can be a vehicle to reshape Polish-Ukrainian relations, a Chicago exhibition on Ukrainian artists’ wartime experiences supports the war effort, and Russian poets offer glimpses of life in the invasion’s aftermath.
Visit our resource page for these stories and more.
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