Yesterday the well known international relations scholar John Mearsheimer gave a talk (video, 1:33h) about the war in Ukraine to the Committee for the Republic.

Mearsheimer says that there will be no peace agreement in Ukraine. The war is seen by both sides as existential. Ukraine insists of regaining territory it sees as part of the country. Ukraine wants security guarantees from the ‘west’ which Russia opposes. The problem of hyper-nationalism (fascism) on the Ukrainian side also makes peace impossible. Then there is the problem that Russia, after having been lied to over the Minsk agreements, has zero trust in any ‘western’ word.

https://www.moonofalabama.org/2023/05/mearsheimers-latest-talk-on-the-war-in-ukraine.html

Reader comment:

Wrt “hyper-nationalism”:

On February 7, the German Minister of Defence Boris Pistorius visited Ukraine. The tweet of the Ministry shows Zelensky and Pistorius. On his sweater, Zelensky wears the emblem of the fascist OUN-M, the tryzub with a sword in the centre:

https://twitter.com/BMVg_Bundeswehr/status/1623020280804216850

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organization_of_Ukrainian_Nationalists

— Belonging to a tradition of European generic fascism, the OUN emerged out of an amalgamation between the Ukrainian
Military Organization and a number of other extreme right-wing organizations, such
as the Ukrainian National Association, the Union of Ukrainian Fascists, and the Union for
the Liberation of Ukraine.6 From the moment of its founding, fascists were integral to, and
played a central role in, the organization. The OUN avoided designating itself as fascist in
order to emphasize the “originality” of Ukrainian nationalism. In 1941 the organization split
between a more radical wing, the OUN(b), named after its leader, Stepan Bandera, and a
more conservative wing, the OUN(m), led by Andrii Mel’nyk. Both were totalitarian, anti-
Semitic, and fascist. In terms of tactics, the OUN(m) was more cautious and stayed loyal to
Nazi Germany throughout the war, whereas the OUN(b) took a more independent line. The
OUN(m) was a smaller and weaker organization and plays a minor role in the nationalist
myth-making today. —

Per Anders Rudling, “The OUN, the UPA and the Holocaust: A Study in the Manufacturing
of Historical Myths”, in: The Carl Beck Papers, Russian & East European Studies Number 2107, p. 3.

Zelenskyy wore the same sweater when he visited the Vatican:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIEsC25hC6Y

Posted by: Cherrycoke | May 24 2023 10:09 utc | 2