Ukraine is embroiled in a bloody civil war. Both sides stand accused of collaborating with fascists, of committing war crimes, of serving foreign interests. This proxy-war between Russia and the West was accompanied by a fierce information war. This book separates fact from fiction with extensive and reliable documentation. While remaining critical of Russia and the Donbass rebellion, De Ploeg demonstrates that many of the recent disasters can be traced to Ukrainian ultranationalists, pro-western political elites and their European and North-American backers. Ukraine in the Crossfire tackles the importance of ultranationalist violence during and after the EuroMaidan movement, and documents how many of these groups are heirs to former nazi-collaborators. It shows how the Ukrainian state has seized on the ultranationalist war-rhetoric to serve its own agenda, clamping down on civil liberties on a scale unprecedented since Ukrainian independence. De Ploeg argues that Kiev itself has been the biggest obstacle to peace in Donbass, with multiple leaks suggesting that US officials are pushing for a pro-war line in Ukraine. With the nation ́s eyes turned towards Russia, the EU and IMF have successfully pressured Ukraine into adopting far-reaching austerity programs, while oligarchic looting of state assets and massive tax-avoidance facilitated by western states continue unabated. De Ploeg documents the local roots of the Donbass rebellion, the overwhelming popularity of Crimea's secession, and shows that support for Ukraine's pro-western turn remains far from unanimous, with large swathes of Ukraine's Russophone population opting out of the political process. Nevertheless, De Ploeg argues, the pro-Western and pro-Russian camps are often similar: neoliberal, authoritarian, nationalist and heavily dependent on foreign support. In a wider exploration of Russo-Western relations, he examines similarities between the contemporary Russian state and its NATO counterparts, showing how the two power blocs have collaborated in some of their worst violent excesses. A far cry from civilizational or ideological clashes, De Ploeg argues that the current tensions flow from NATO ́s military dominance and aggressive posture, both globally and within eastern Europe, where Russia seeks to preserve the status-quo. Packed with shocking facts, deftly moving from the local to the international, from the historical to the recent; De Ploeg connects the dots.

The transition from the Soviet to the post-1991 Russian military is a fascinating story of decline and reinvention. The Soviet army suffered a slow demise, dissolving in 2000 and only gradually reforming based on radically different principles. The First Chechnya War (1994-1996) was the lowest point for the Soviet military but the Second Chechnya War (1999-2004) saw the initial stirrings of the new Russian army. The Five Day War with Georgia in August 2008 was its first major success and marked Russia's return to world power status. Lively accounts and maps describe the actions of these wars, along with the Crimea operation of 2014, the separatist struggles in eastern Ukraine and the ongoing Russian intervention in Syria.

On 17 July 2014 Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 was shot down amid conflict in Ukraine, a crisis that led to a NATO-Russia standoff and the onset of a new period of East-West confrontation. This is the first scholarly work on the Ukrainian unrest and the tragic downing of MH17. It offers an analysis that challenges the Western consensus surrounding these events, emphasising the geopolitical and economic context of the West’s standoff with Russia, the BRICS bloc, and the struggles over the EU’s energy supply. Based on previously unpublished government and NATO documents as well as a wide array of sources this book offers an analysis of global political economy and contemporary debates about Russia and East-West relations.

The new world order as it stood after the apparent end of the Cold War and the collapse of the USSR was greeted with enthusiasm and optimism almost everywhere, but especially in the West. Less than a quarter century later that optimism has faded dramatically, with the rise of populism, nationalism, religious extremism and civil discord disrupting political and social norms around the world. This book reveals the extent to which events that began as internal political crises in Europe, the Middle East and the USA have sent ripple effects reaching into all points of the globe. The projection of liberal democratic predominance in the 1990s, has faded as illiberal governance gains support worldwide. Long-standing international trade patterns are disrupted, perhaps permanently, by the weaponization of economic sanctions, real and perceived threats of terrorism raise levels of anxiety everywhere, and severe new weather patterns inflict floods, fires, drought and hurricanes on populations unused to such extremes. This book describes and analyses many of these phenomena in the hope that better understanding of them may help ameliorate their consequences.

A stunning autobiographical account of the fight for freedom in Ho Chi Min's Vietnam.

A well-known novelist and journalist from the coastal city of Jableh, Samar Yazbek witnessed the beginning four months of the uprising first-hand and actively participated in a variety of public actions and budding social movements. Throughout this period she kept a diary of personal reflections on, and observations of, this historic time. Because of the outspoken views she published in print and online, Yazbek quickly attracted the attention and fury of the regime, vicious rumours started to spread about her disloyalty to the homeland and the Alawite community to which she belongs. The lyrical narrative describes her struggle to protect herself and her young daughter, even as her activism propels her into a horrifying labyrinth of insecurity after she is forced into living on the run and detained multiple times, excluded from the Alawite community and renounced by her family, her hometown and even her childhood friends. With rare empathy and journalistic prowess Samar Yazbek compiled oral testimonies from ordinary Syrians all over the country. Filled with snapshots of exhilarating hope and horrifying atrocities, she offers us a wholly unique perspective on the Syrian uprising. Hers is a modest yet powerful testament to the strength and commitment of countless unnamed Syrians who have united to fight for their freedom. These diaries will inspire all those who read them, and challenge the world to look anew at the trials and tribulations of the Syrian uprising.

Wealth and family privilege are no match for the brutal forward march of two armies intent on eliminating each other. As a teenager, Anastasia Saporito discovered just that truth as she and her family found themselves exiled, vulnerable, and no longer able to call on their societal standing and accumulated riches as the Soviet and German armies converged during World War II. Saporito recounts in vivid detail the difficulties of her childhood as the daughter of White Russian aristocrats forced to flee their native Russia for refuge in Yugoslavia. In Ancient Furies/i