Litteratur

Written mostly before Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the book The Tragedy of Ukraine: What Classical Greek Tragedy Can Teach Us About Conflict Resolution is an illuminating read for anyone wishing to know how we arrived at the existential crossroads that threatens WWIII. This is the book for those hungry for an historical understanding of Ukraine’s seething internal conflict—western hypernationalism versus eastern cultural diversity —that made Ukraine vulnerable to a geopolitical power struggle, a pawn in the cruel hands of both Russia and the United States. […]

Published by De Gruyter, a German academic publishing house, Petro’s 304 page book reads like an indictment of nationalism run amok, for flag waving promotes a false sense of Ukrainian security in homogeneity and cultural cleansing only to divide the society, run a knife through its center to demarcate loyalists in the west versus traitors in the east. Such binary thinking, the author argues, made the country vulnerable to external conflicts and imperial ambitions of both the U.S. and Russia. He cites hyper-nationalism as a primary driver of the 2014 US-backed coup. Läs artikel

Läs också Mats Björkenfeldts presentation på den här sajten av Petros bok.

[…] Hellestveit har kalt boken Dårlig nytt fra Østfronten, med undertittelen «krigen som endrer alt». Hun tar for seg bakgrunnen for krigen i Ukraina, samt effektene av den internasjonalt og for Norge. Etter mer enn åtte måneder med krigens redsler og tilspissing mellom øst og vest, er det nesten uvirkelig at Russland i 2006–2008 deltok i NATOs antiterroroperasjon Active Endeavour i Middelhavet. Hellestveit beskriver Russlands invasjon som «et monumentalt øyeblikk i europeisk historie», og mener «det norske samfunnet er grunnleggende uforberedt på mye av det denne krigen fører med seg». […]

Et annet sentralt tema er hvordan mange utenfor Europa ser annerledes på krigen enn hva Norge, Storbritannia og EU gjør. De fleste landene i verden har ikke innført sanksjoner mot Russland, og Hellestveit er spørrende til om sanksjonene virker etter hensikten. Russland har rekordhøye inntekter fra energieksport, og rubelen har styrket seg i forhold til euroen. Mens Europa har en energikrise, kan «asiatiske markeder fortsette sin gjenoppbygging etter pandemien til betydelig lavere energipriser». Läs artikel

Vi kan nu informera om att  boken Lagen mot krig finns som print on demand. Den går att beställa både från Bokus  och från Adlibris .

Förläggaren Henrik Celander meddelar att boken ännu inte går att beställa direkt från Celanders förlag.

Book Announcement: The Tragedy of Ukraine

In a nutshell, it argues that the conflict in Ukraine has deep domestic roots. Reconciliation will require untangling these roots and embracing a change of heart, or catharsis. Classical Greek tragedy is an ideal tool for this, since it once performed a similar function in Athenian society.

An extended sample of the text is also available on Google Books (short link t.ly/EkeZ).

Some advance praise:

“Brilliant, insightful, thoroughly researched study. Essential reading for those who wish to understand the causes of the war in Ukraine and its implications for the rest of the world.”

— Jack F. Matlock, Jr., U.S. Ambassador to the USSR, 1987–1991, author of Autopsy on an Empire, and Superpower Illusions

“Unique in amplifying the voices of the ‘other Ukraine’ that fit neither Putin’s ‘single people’ nor the dominant Ukrainian nation-building projects.

— Volodymyr Ishchenko, Freie Universität Berlin

“Convincing and original . . . provides a unique insight into one of the great tragedies of our time and is set to become a classic.”

— Richard Sakwa, University of Kent, author of Frontline Ukraine. Läs presentationen

Läs  också anmälan av boken på den här  sajten.

On a Fulbright research trip to Ukraine in 2014, Nicolai Petro had a front row seat to the eruption of the Maidan revolution, which led to the ouster of the country’s president who sought closer ties to Russia.

The revolution also exposed the deep domestic conflict over Ukraine’s national identity between those in the country’s east who honor their Russian heritage and welcome ties to their neighbor and those in the western region who reject everything Russian. Petro, a professor of political science at the University of Rhode Island, was in the southern port city of Odessa, where the division between these groups was not as sharp. But he could still see the divisive schism.

“It opened my eyes to how deep the divisions within the country were,” said Petro. “While 80% of Western Ukrainians supported the Maidan, 80% of Eastern Ukrainians opposed it.”

In his new book, “The Tragedy of Ukraine: What Classical Greek Tragedy Can Teach Us about Conflict Resolution,” Petro explores the more than 150-year history of this destabilizing struggle. He also argues that the current war between Ukraine and Russia has deep roots in that internal strife, which has led to armed clashes three other times in history. Läs artikel

Läs anmälan här på sajten av boken.

Utdrag ur boken. Kapitel 10.

A strong defense was seen as a key policy for Norway after the Second World War, together with support for the United Nations established in 1945, electing the Norwegian Foreign Minister, Trygve Lie, as its first Secretary General. During the war Lie had begun a re-evaluation of our foreign policy, turning away from the neutrality position of former Foreign Minister Halvdan Koht to a policy of close cooperation with Great Britain and the USA. The German attack on the Soviet Union in 1941 made Stalin an ally in the war and Norway was determined to continue a good relationship with Moscow in a bridge building role between East and West. A superpower conflict would inevitably involve the northern areas, not least North Norway. Soviet forces had liberated the northern counties in 1945 but had withdrawn.

In 1945 the Soviet Union opened a KGB office in their embassy in Oslo and the aim was to develop contacts with politicians, Foreign Ministry employees, press and media and recruit agents in a secret war. Vasilij Mikrokhin’s handwritten archive indicates that they had some success. Oslo was interesting for Moscow as a window to Washington, London, Bonn and Brussels and the KGB succeeded in securing at least five agents during the Cold War, two in the government and three in the Foreign Ministry.

Halvard Lange replaced Trygve Lie as Foreign Minister and it soon became clear that Norway could no longer simply play the role of mediator and arbitrator. East Europe had fallen to the Soviet Union in domestic and foreign policy and become communist regimes. The fate of Czechoslovakia in 1948 made a deep impression in Norway. Western countries formed a defence alliance, the Western Union (absorbed into NATO), in the same year and the idea of creating a Scandinavian Defence Alliance was discussed, but it soon became clear that it would not be powerful enough. Sweden remained neutral, Norway and Denmark then started defence negotiations with the western powers at the beginning of 1949. Immediately, the Soviet Union warned the Norwegian Government against the Atlantic Treaty, referred to their common border in the north and demanded to know if Norway intended to join and establish military bases for allied forces. Norway replied that it was investigating the matter, but confirmed that it would not allow the establishment of foreign bases and storage of atomic weapons. Läs artikel