129 - Matt Johnson - The War in Ukraine

Two for Tea Podcast

General Follow Matt on Twitter: https://twitter.com/mattjj89 Some of Matt’s previous writing and speaking about Ukraine: https://www.haaretz.com/world-news/.premium-forget-nato-ukraine-s-problem-is-russian-imperialism-1.10576686 https://areomagazine.com/2022/02/25/putins-pointless-war/ https://www.callin.com/episode/matt-johnson-how-to-view-the-war-in-ukraine-MVpYFsdASZ https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/why-tucker-carlson-hates-ukraine-so-much-1.10746934 References Two for Tea episode featuring Matt, Daniel, and Ben Burgis on Christopher Hitchens: https://soundcloud.com/twoforteapodcast/113-about-chris-hitchens Some of Taras Bilous’s writings from the frontlines of the war: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/odr/a-letter-to-the-western-left-from-kyiv/ https://www.dissentmagazine.org/online_articles/self-determination-and-the-war-in-ukraine https://twitter.com/ahatanhel/status/1517440088879284224?s=20&t=yZ9bkeaWalWYIKSClWy3Eg Timestamps 00:00 Opening and introduction. 2:05 Iona reads a passage from Matt’s Areo essay ‘Putin’s Pointless War’ on the origins and causes of the Ukraine war. 5:00 Matt discusses the history and ideology behind the invasion of Ukraine. 7:10 Matt discusses the more immediate background to the Ukraine war, from 2013 on: Ukraine’s desire for closer relations with the EU, the Revolution of Dignity, the annexation of Crimea, and more. Why Putin is a 19th-century leader. 10:38 The religious aspect of the war and Putin’s warped view of history. Why so many fail to understand that Putin is just an imperialist and miss the mark by talking about Russian security interests and NATO expansion. 15:22 Wouldn’t the US be angry if Mexico joined a Chinese version of the Warsaw Pact? Why blaming NATO expansion for the war is wrong. 20:00 What the Glenn Greenwald-style anti-imperialist left and the Tucker Carlson-style isolationist right get wrong about Ukraine and why (and how they overlap). 25:44 Isn’t Ukraine corrupt and authoritarian? Aren’t Russia and Ukraine just as bad as each other? Isn’t Zelensky illiberal? 28:58 What about the Azov Battalion? Isn’t Ukraine riddled with fascism and neo-Nazism? 31:40 How the usual suspects on the anti-imperialist left deny agency to Ukrainians, who want arms. Plus: The Ukrainian socialist Taras Bilous, on the frontlines and for western arming of Ukraine. Could Ukraine be a turning point for the left? 38:01 The war and the news cycle. What’s actually happening on the ground now? What does the future of the war look like? 42:24 Has Putin lost his edge? Has the invasion backfired on him? Has he united the west again? And if so, how long will that unity last? Has the western reaction to Russian expansionism come too late? Should the west’s aim be to degrade Russia’s capability to wage such wars? Is a Ukrainian victory possible? 51:23 What should the west be doing about Ukraine? Will Europe put up with skyrocketing energy costs to help Ukraine? Will this lead to an upsurge in support for politicians like Le Pen? 53:31 Could Putin use nukes? Might he escalate the war? 58:18 A strange question about elites from Twitter for Matt. 1:03:08 The effects of the war on energy in Europe and attitudes to nuclear power. The war as an advertisement for nuclear power. Plus: the intransigence and greed of the oil companies and OPEC countries. 1:06:16 An aside: the grotesque mystery of America selling its soul to Saudi Arabia. 1:08:00 Is there anything Matt didn’t get the chance to say but wanted to? Yes! Matt on the flaws of realism in the study of international relations: why political culture matters. 1:12:10 Last words and outro.