Why We Are Here: The Past and Its Link to the Present

A Russian soldier sitting in the ruins of a former house in Grozny, March 2000

I admit I should have paid more attention to Eastern Europe before Ukraine was invaded on February 22, 2022. Excuses, excuses, and I hate to say it, we all missed why this happened. It was not about Ukraine in 2014. No, it’s not that. This goes much earlier, and it’s part of the long trends in Russia.