THIS IS REVOLUTION＞podcast Ep. 243: Russia Resurgent Ukraine and Kazakhstan w/ Harun Yilmaz

In recent months, western media pundits and officials have been near apoplectic about both the Russian intervention into Kazakhstan as well as the deteriorating security situation on the Ukrainian-Russian border. While many in the American foreign policy and media establishment are warning of growing Russian aggression vis-à-vis its neighbors, Russia claims it is merely acting defensively in face of NATO expansion. What is the historical context behind Russia’s relationship with its neighbors? What explains Russian actions in the Ukraine and Kazakhstan? And what do these developments mean for both regional and global affairs? We speak to historian Harun Yilmaz, who has written extensively on Russia, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine.   Dr. Harun Yilmaz: Dr. Harun Yilmaz received his master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Oxford and subsequently worked as a research fellow at Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute. He is currently a British Academy research fellow at Queen Mary University of London. He is a regional expert on history, politics, national identities, and political propaganda. His academic and popular publications cover Ukraine, Central Asia, and the Caucasus. Dr. Yilmaz worked in these locations for long periods of time and acquired an excellent grasp of existing political and cultural issues at grassroots level. His language skills include Turkish, Russian, Ukrainian, Azerbaijani, and Kazakh. His most recent book is National Identities in Soviet Historiography: The Rise of Nations under Stalin      About TIR Thank you, guys, again for taking the time to check this out. We appreciate each and every one of you. If you have the means, and you feel so inclined, BECOME A PATRON! We're creating patron-only programming, you'll get bonus content from many of the episodes, and you get MERCH!   Become a patron now: https://www.patreon.com/join/BitterLakePresents   Please also like, subscribe, and follow us on these platforms as well, especially YouTube!   THANKS Y'ALL   YouTube: www.youtube.com/thisisrevolutionpodcast   Twitch: www.twitch.tv/thisisrevolutionpodcast & www.twitch.tv/leftflankvets   Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Thisisrevolutionpodcast/   Twitter: @TIRShowOakland   Instagram: @thisisrevolutionoakland   Pascal Robert in Newsweek: https://www.newsweek.com/obsession-black-white-wealth-gap-protects-elites-opinion-1661910   Get THIS IS REVOLUTION Merch here: www.thisisrevolutionpodcast.com   Get the music featured the show here: https://bitterlakeoakland.bandcamp.com/   Follow Djene Bajalan @djenebajalan Follow Kuba Wrzesniewski @DrKuba2