From the moment the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, there is a strong case to be made that the United States and its allies made the same mistake again and again and again.
Through six U.S. administrations, and now into a seventh, American foreign policy repeatedly and consistently misread Moscow and prioritized its relationship with Russia over the other former Soviet states.
It was this focus on great power politics, this folly of realism, that enabled and helped facilitate Russia’s imperial revival culminating with the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
On this week’s Power Vertical Podcast, host Brian Whitmore speaks with retired U.S. Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, who served as Director for European Affairs for the U.S National Security Council from 2018-20, about his important new book The Folly of Realism: How the West Deceived Itself About Russia and Betrayed Ukraine. Also on the podcast, Brian and Lt. Col. Vindman discuss the contentious Oval Office meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Washington’s apparent rapprochement with Moscow.
Enjoy…
Please follow Brian Whitmore and The Power Vertical onBluesky@powervertical.bsky.social
SHOW NOTES
Alexander Vindman’s book, The Folly of Realism: How the West Deceived Itself About Russia and Betrayed Ukraine, can be purchased here. You can subscribe to Alexander Vindman’s Substack newsletter, Why It Matters, here. You can follow Alexander Vindman on Bluesky here.
The Power Vertical Newsletter on Substack can be accessed here. Recently published work by Brian Whitmore can be accessed here, here, and here. Please follow Brian Whitmore and The Power Vertical on Bluesky@powervertical.bsky.social