Anatol Lieven is a respected commentator on international affairs. He is even considered by left wing authorities reliable and reasonable in his opinions. His pronouncements on the Ukraine conflict, however, cast a dark shadow on this reputation. In a recent interview, he states—or kvells:
Russia has only managed to capture half of Luhansk and most … of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson. That’s all that Russia has added to what it’s held since 2014—Crimea and the eastern Donbass. So it does have to be said that Ukraine has—with Western help—already achieved a historic victory. Remember also that this isn’t just a victory compared to Russian hopes—and Western fears—back in February. This is a colossal transformation in terms of the past 400 years of Russian domination of Ukraine—I don’t think the West sufficiently recognizes how significant this change is and the true extent of Ukraine’s victory and Russia’s defeat. (“Stopping the Killing,” January 19, 2023)[1]
In other words, (1) a discrete entity named “Ukraine” has been repressed for four centuries by another discrete entity named “Russia”; (2) Ukraine has finally liberated itself from this timeless Russian oppression; but (3) “the West” hasn’t “sufficiently recognize[d]” this “historic victory,” “colossal transformation,” and “the true extent of Ukraine’s
— source normanfinkelstein.com | Norman Finkelstein | Jan 29, 2023
