MSSR 2023 | Dominic Lieven: The End of Empire and its Consequences

Dominic Lieven, a renowned professor of Russian and international history, delivered a lecture titled "The Ukrainian Crisis in the Comparative Historical Context of the End of Empire and its Consequences" at the Monterey Summer Symposium 2023 in Armenia & Georgia (July 2-18, 2023). The Symposium is organized by the Monterey Initiative in Russian Studies, Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey.
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[@barrylane1055]

Yes, please post the whole lecture for Professor LIeven!

[@aaronfire359]

Has his full lecture been posted online or will it be?

[@yp77738yp77739]

Good to hear Lieven utter that which must remain unsaid, but everyone knows is true. He won’t be appearing on news channels anytime soon then.

[@enuajsifoto]

looking at the title of this conference. I started to listen, convinced that the discussion will be about the US empire. How surprised was I to see that they embarked on the analysis of Russia!. These professors are smoking something good and they must be paid handsomely by the military industrial complex - I want that life!

[@philnewton3096]

"Border Country. " by Raymond Williams ?

[@kosarkosar7683]

Russia financed areas where no Russians lived so much that everyone had roughly the same purchasing power. No imperialist country has done this in Africa, for example. In addition, more than half of the population were ethically Russian, which would give them a political majority, 70 percent of the population spoke Russian at home,in many countries fewer people speak the most numerous language.

[@christiansmith-of7dt]

Empires never end they just go into hiding

[@bunmitella9672]

Maybe I’m just not smart but it seems to me the war today is about US imperialism not the history of Russia and Ukraine.

[@helenlozinski3072]

No. The war is about Russian imperialism.

[@jaroslavkotov910]

If it was a conflict between Russia and Ukraine, it would be over at least one year ago. The problem is - Russia's fighting against the US' assertive power that lately has become too assertive and now poses a real danger. Dominic should wake up a little from the Napoleonic wars, here it's totally different time and a different reality.

[@AliHassan-hb1bn]

Devils insult devils to pretend angels.

[@allanvodicka8352]

A little bit too much romanticism about the lost Russian empire for my taste especially coming from someone who lives in the comfort of the UK. However, I would say that he is right when he says the Donbas wasn’t Russian or Ukrainian, though legally part of Ukraine. The Donbas is the Donbas and the language that they speak is mutually intelligible in Moscow and in Kyiv, though with a few words that nobody outside of the Donbas would understand. I think he characterized the situation best by saying it’s very complicated. Self determination of people’s is still better than empire of exploitation which is current Russia.

[@stuartwray6175]

Empire of exploitation? It's a federation whose regions, in recent years, have benefitted from trillions of Rubles provided for infrastructure projects, housing and urban regeneration. Agriculturaly It's excelled. The Orthodox and Islamic faiths have good relations. Lavrov privately informed his US counterparts in 2008, of the potential for civil war in Ukraine and the resulting dilemma it would create for Russia. As to whether to intervene or not.

[@alexg7836]

So living in wealthy multicultural great state Russia as a russian is worse than living in a failed fascist state

[@bunmitella9672]

Maybe I’m just not smart but it seems to me the war today is about US imperialism not the history of Russia and Ukraine.