April Fools Day, 2014
Our guest Prof. Oleg Kobtzeff opened the evening with an engaging history of the Ukrainian people that took us from the Middle Ages, when Tatars ruled and the Cossacks appeared, through the early and late twentieth century, focusing on Ukraine’s complicated relations with Russia, up until the collapse of the Soviet Union. He described post-Soviet Ukraine as a veritable Dodge City, where euphoria and freedom gave way to a general free-for-all and corruption.
With no strong leader (such as Putin) to establish a rule of law, the 2000s brought the Anti-Kuchma Revolt and the Orange Revolution, before climaxing with the events of this winter that spiraled into a larger geo-political crisis. It has entangled Russia, the United States, the EU and NATO, with ramifications for everything from the civil war in Syria to China sitting on the sidelines.
And then the hands went up!