The War in Ukraine

John Ganz
Jan 07, 2023
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Collected Articles

Unpopular Front
Assessing D.S.A.'s Ukraine Statement
Late last month, the Democratic Socialists of America — International Committee issued a statement denouncing the United States and NATO role in the on-going Ukraine crisis, calling “on the US to reverse its ongoing militarization in the region, avoid implementing sanctions against Russia, and uphold internationally agreed upon commitments to end NATO’s…
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2 years ago · 77 likes · John Ganz
Unpopular Front
What Is Putin's Worldview?
As the Ukraine crisis seems to deteriorate by the hour, a remarkable piece from the New Left Review is making the rounds online. First published in 2014, it’s an interview by Tom Parfitt with Gleb Pavlovksy, a former advisor and confidant of Vladimir Putin. It provides some rare insight into Putin’s ideology, if it can really be called that. In some way…
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2 years ago · 25 likes · 10 comments · John Ganz
Unpopular Front
A Brief Note About Ukraine
Like many of you I’m sure in the past few days, I’ve been closely—if not obsessively—following the war in Ukraine. I don’t have many thoughts on the subject yet except to say that this unprovoked invasion of a peaceful neighbor is a disgusting and horrifying spectacle. The spirit of defiance shown by the Ukrainian people and their elected leaders is som…
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2 years ago · 69 likes · John Ganz
Unpopular Front
Russia's Failed Strategy
I highly recommend this podcast interviewing Michael Kofman, a military analyst at the Center for Naval Analyses. Prior to the war, Kofman, who was born in Ukraine, was one of the few analysts I saw outside of government who believed that Russia’s deployments suggested a full-scale invasion…
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2 years ago · 25 likes · John Ganz
Unpopular Front
The Revolutionary War in Ukraine
Many commentators are referring to the change in historical epoch we are now witnessing as a return to the Cold War, or even worse, as a possible repeat of the Second World War. Turning to such parallels is understandable and perhaps unavoidable, but, from another perspective, the war in Ukraine signals…
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2 years ago · 41 likes · John Ganz
Unpopular Front
Goodbye Lenin
Americans who watched or read Vladimir Putin’s address just prior to his invasion of Ukraine might have been puzzled by the many references to Lenin and the Bolsheviks as the “creators” of modern Ukraine and the detailed lecture on the mistakes of the Soviet Union’s nationalities policy. Surely, Putin, a former KGB man schooled in Marxism-Leninism, view…
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2 years ago · 29 likes · 10 comments · John Ganz
Unpopular Front
“The Decaying West”
As we’ve recently seen, one of the major themes of Putin’s statements and in Russian state’s propaganda in general is that of Western “decadence,” “decline,” and “corruption.” In the official line, not only do these forces weaken the West, they are contagious and therefore dangerous to Russia itself. In his “declaration of war…
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2 years ago · 30 likes · 14 comments · John Ganz
Unpopular Front
The ‘Polish Question’ and the Left
On March 23, Dmitri Medvedev, the current deputy chairman of the Security Council of Russian and the former president of Russia, posted an extraordinary diatribe on his Telegram channel entitled “On Poland.” Published directly after the visit of the Polish Prime Minister to Kyiv, it’s a bizarre concatenation of g…
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2 years ago · 26 likes · 8 comments · John Ganz
Unpopular Front
Back from the Finland Station
There’s been a lot of puzzlement and dispute in the Western public over the “sources of Russian conduct,” to paraphrase George Kennan’s famous 1947 “X article.” Why would Putin, so long presented in the West as a savvy—albeit ruthless and duplicitous—statesman, engage in such a reckless adventure? How does he expect things to end well? …
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2 years ago · 26 likes · 2 comments · John Ganz
Unpopular Front
A Real War
“The fact is, people have lost all remembrance of a real war. The Crimean, the Italian, and the Austro-Prussian war were all of them mere conventional wars — wars of Governments which made peace as soon as their military machinery had broken down or become worn out. A real war, one in which the nation itself participates, we have not seen in the heart o…
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2 years ago · 84 likes · 3 comments · John Ganz
Unpopular Front
Some Thoughts on Ukraine
It appears that Ukrainian armed forces have accomplished a significant breakthrough near Kharkiv and are even threatening to encircle Russian positions. The war is by no means over, Ukraine’s success is not guaranteed, but it’s clear that quick, lightning victory and perhaps even a gradual, grinding victory are now out of reach for the invaders…
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2 years ago · 140 likes · 10 comments · John Ganz