Who is winning the war in Ukraine and what are the stories of this war?

I have produced three episodes of the podcast/channel on the state of play of the war in Ukraine.

How do we make sense of the events leading up to the war in Ukraine, and throughout the year of 2022? There have been many news stories, many podcasts and many channels looking at the unfolding events in Ukraine from day to day, In these episodes, however, I step back from the daily news cycle, and explore what it means for us as ordinary citizens looking on at these distressing events and wanting states to find their way back to diplomacy and dialogue.

In the first episode (The War in Ukraine – the whole story to the end of 2022) I set out a clear narrative of the whole war from its beginnings in the internal conflicts in Ukraine in 2014 to the latest missile attacks and Russian victories in late December 2022 and January 2023. I also explore the connections of this story line to my series on the Black Legend of Russian History. You can listen/watch on Spotify here, Apple here, and on YouTube here

In the second episode (Who is Winning the war in Ukraine – Ukraine, Russia or NATO?) will assess who is winning the war against four dimensions of the conflict – military war, economic war, information war and diplomatic struggle. How are these conflicts shaping the emerging multipolar world order? This video will be released on 9 January 2022.You can listen/watch on Spotify here, Apple here, and on YouTube here

In the third episode (The Ukraine Conflict – How to stay Sane when different narratives of the war conflict) I place the conflict in a broader historical context. Is this the start of World War II, or are there other models and stories from history that provide a better framework to compare with events of today. I have broken this episode into three segments, and have released the first that looks at the broad question of how we can all stay sane in the face of a bombardment of narratives about this war.You can listen/watch on Spotify here, Apple here, and on YouTube here. The next two parts of this episode are coming out on January 18 and 20 (after I record and edit them)

I hope you find these discussions of the war helpful. I am committed to balanced, compassionate and long-term thinking about this conflict, and what it tells us all about how we should live in a multipolar world. Leave us a comment or send me an audio message via Anchor/Spotify if you would like to take part in the conversation.

Please take the time to subscribe to my YouTube channel and share my content with your network since this will help me produce more of this kind of content that is sorely needed in today’s degraded public discourse.

I am back from a summer break which I spent at the beach on the South-East coast of Australia, and am back into the saddle for producing content on my podcast, YouTube channel, blog and my other writing. It is going to be a big year as I watch developments in geopolitics, history and culture, while also finding my way as a kind of literary recluse, what the Japanese tradition knows as a shami. How do we find our way between awareness and detachment in this fragmenting world of disorder – that will be a theme of so much of my writing and content this year. I hope you can join me to explore this issue in its many dimensions.