Key Takeaway
| ● | Cultural elements have been regarded as peripheral by Russia, but as essential by Ukrainians. |
| ● | Ukrainians told coded folk tales about the Russians and other oppressive invaders. |
| ● | Russians have despised the Ukrainian language, while Ukrainians resisted being made to speak Russian. |
| ● | Changes in the way news was spread made it impossible for Russia to make sure only the Russian viewpoint on Ukraine was expressed. |
| ● | Monuments built by pro-Russian officials in Ukraine are viewed with deep dislike by Ukrainian nationalists. |
Russians tend to see themselves as Ukraine’s benefactor, while Ukrainians tend to see Russia as another oppressor, because the Russian-dominated government of pre-1991 Ukraine did not pursue the freedom and self-determination of Ukraine.
Every aspect of Ukrainian culture is interpreted in diametrically opposite ways by official Russia and popular Ukraine. Those interpretations drive the political attitudes and actions of the opposing parties. This signals to us that we should be deeply suspicious of our own side’s media, particularly if our own leaders are apparently infallibly successful, and nothing bad ever seems to happen in our country. We need to learn how to really read the press.
Our journey thus far has taken us from the Viking longboats on the Dnieper, through a dispiriting picking of our way through the smoke and chaos of eight centuries of warfare, to the brink of the next crisis. In the final three chapters, I want to analyze what has happened in order for us to better understand why war has once again become the “only option” for settling differences of opinion over Ukraine.