Russia is the last multinational empire, fighting to keep its colonies

“All wars are fought twice, the first time on the battlefield, the second time in memory,” writes Viet Thanh Nguyen, the Vietnamese American novelist. In the case of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the start of the fighting also launched a battle over the history that caused the war. It’s worth understanding this intellectual conflict, because it will likely shed light on the endgame of the actual conflict.

At the heart of this historical debate is the question of NATO expansion. Some have argued that the Western decision to admit several countries from the former Soviet empire created a deep and lasting resentment in Moscow that has morphed into full-scale aggression. That case has been made most sharply by University of Chicago scholar John Mearsheimer as well as many others over the years.

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