Ukraine & Russia: On the Brink of World War III?

The war in Ukraine has now been raging for two years and appears to be a stalemate, with devastating loss of life ongoing. Looking at the larger context, this talk challenges the assumption that Russia’s attack was unprovoked. What is the role of the U.S. in this conflict, and what should it be? We are not a world court judging "rights" so much as people deciding war or peace. Ukraine is in its national epoch, as previously with Italy, Germany, or Serbia. Laughing off Putin's historical claims shows our ignorance of history. The end of globalization is the return of great power politics, not the Cold War. Our period is not one of Cold War, but of the origins of world war three.

Anthony D’Agostino is a Professor emeritus of History at San Francisco State University.. Now host of a YouTube show, Glasnost in Our Time. His articles and reviews have appeared in many magazines and journals and has made many appearances on radio and TV. He is the author of 5 books of history on international politics, most recently The Rise of Global Powers: International Politics in the Era of the World Wars (Cambridge U Press, 2012). He is currently working on a book that will be the history of the Era of Globalization, 1968-pres.