Intent to Destroy is here! A book that I never imagined writing, hated to write and now so glad I did. This is the UK version, the US one has a different cover, though both are published by Basic Books @BasicBooks and @BasicBooksUK. So, a short 🧵 This is not an academic study but a general audience book. My goal was not to present some major discoveries but to tell, for the first time (to the best of my knowledge) in a single volume the story of Russia’s obsession with Ukraine since the 19th century till the current war,

To those freaking out about about Trump handing Ukraine over to Putin (I have seen quite a few), several simple things to remember:
1. Ukraine is not Trump's to hand over
2. Ukrainians can and will decide for themselves whether to fight on
3. Donate, donate, donate 4. There are other countries besides the US and leaders besides Trump. Lobby those who have a voice there
5. Remember that it was Obama who refused to give Ukraine Javelins and it was Trump who did. Not because Trump loves Ukraine but because Trump is chaotic and unpredictable

Just to be clear, I am not just piling up on Kara-Murza, who is a very brave and honest individual, this is a structural problem for Russian liberals, one I am talking about since long before 2022 or even 2014. Countries need legitimacy and identity: who we are and who we aren't

https://twitter.com/eugene_finkel/status/1819648209993515113

From this choice of national identity flow multiple policies and decisions, both domestic and foreign. The best time to articulate this identity is a birth of a state or a systemic crisis when the slate wiped clean. For Russia and other ex-Soviet states this moment was 1991-1992

Today Ukraine celebrates its Unity Day. On this day in 1919 Ukraine People's Republic (UNR) proclaimed unification with the West Ukraine People's Republic (ZUNR), originally roughly the area of Austro-Hungarian Eastern Galicia. Both states failed and the ZUNR especially is barely known to anyone but a handful of historians. Yet it was a bold even if short-lived political experiment, especially when it came to Ukrainian-Jewish relations. Western Ukraine is known as the land of Bandera, extreme nationalism, anti-Semitic violence etc. RU propaganda goes to

Earlier this week a journalist asked me how this might end now, with the partial mobilization and referendums. I said that I don't see a realistic endgame scenario. Then I spent several days thinking about it. I still don't see it, at least not anytime soon. So, some thoughts 1/ 1. Ukraine has the will, the resources and the capacity to fight. Even if Russia mobilizes every bear in Siberia and reindeer in Yakutia, Ukraine will keep fighting. Even if Russia uses nuclear weapons, Ukraine will keep fighting. I think this should clear to everyone by now 2/

This is interesting. Assuming that this NRA even exists and it is not a FSB outfit, there are very good reasons to be either very skeptical or very excited. I researched the emergence of resistance groups in highly opressive environments. My own work on Jewish resistance in the

https://twitter.com/KeirGiles/status/1561391676811317258

ghettos but I have also read about many, many other cases. The truth is that the vast majority of nascent resistance or insurgent groups are nipped in the bud before they manage to do anything. If some get lucky and do something notable, they tend to be destroyed immediately

I had good reasons to hate Russian security services before. Now I am just exploding. I feel angry, I feel stupid, I feel naive, I feel tired. I got played. I had him in class. Twice, in fact. One class was half-Zoom during COVID, several interactions outside classroom

https://twitter.com/PjotrSauer/status/1537425030526672900

He had a weird accent I couldn’t identify, not a Russian one. Nothing Russian I could notice and I am a native speaker. Presented himself as Brazilian, Irish roots so weird accent made sense. Unlike this crazy cover letter, he was very smart and competent in class. He didn’t take

As expected, my claim that we see a genocide in Ukraine is being contested by several other scholars. That’s normal, that is what scholars do. What is more important is that even those who disagree with me (at least those views that I saw) and think that my genocide claim goes /1 too far, especially given the limited data we have, still believe that at the very least we are talking about atrocity crimes. Put simply, the argument is not about whether Russia does truly horrible things to Ukraine and Ukrainians but which term describes the horror better /2

Got questions about why I think it is genocide. Until this morning I resisted applying the term. War crimes? Sure. Heinous rhetoric? You bet. What changed is the combination of more and more evidence, from different places, and even more importantly, explicit official rhetoric /1 The official legal definition of genocide is "acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such". When I teach genocide I start by saying that this definition has huge problems because it doesn't give us /2

Germany is hugely important to stopping this madness, but that doesn't mean that other countries should be left off the hook. It pains me, but one such country is my own, Israel. First, IL government had to be dragged kicking /1
axios.com/russia-ukraine… And screaming to even condemn the invasion. Then the official tune shifted to "our hearts are with the people of Ukraine but we need to be careful because Russia owns Syria". And whenever there is even a hint of security concerns you can count on Israel not do the right thing /2

Wasn't sure if to write this. It is blunt and will offend surely many but I have privilege and therefore, responsibility. It is also long and personal. I am writing for Germans, but in English. It will reach more people this way and my German is not good enough. /1 This here is Kyiv, 1941. The city where my grandmother and many relatives lived. Some escaped, some haven't. If you are German, you of course know that Germans did it. Let's be more specific. Chances are, someone in your immediate or extended family been there and done that /2