Book Talk: Russia and The Lost Peace
After the end of the Cold War, hopes were high for an era of U.S.-Russian cooperation and peace and harmony in Europe. In a vitally important new book, The Lost Peace: How the West Failed to Prevent a Second Cold War (Yale University Press November 2023), Dr. Richard Sakwa explores the reasons for the collapse of those hopes in the thirty years that followed. Understanding this history is vital not only to understanding the roots of the present disastrous war in Ukraine, but to formulating ways out of that conflict; and as the war sinks into a bloody stalemate and U.S. challenges elsewhere mount, finding such paths is among the greatest tasks facing U.S. diplomacy. Anatol Lieven, director of the Eurasia program at the Quincy Institute, discussed the book with the author.
Panelists
Richard Sakwa
Dr. Richard Sakwa is Emeritus Professor of Russian and European Politics at the University of Kent, UK. He is one of the foremost experts on Russia and the other countries of the former USSR, and on Russia’s relations with the West. He is the author of numerous leading books on these subjects, including "Frontline Ukraine" (2015), "Russia Against the Rest" (2017) and "Deception: Russiagate and the New Cold War (2022)".
Anatol Lieven
Anatol Lieven directs the Eurasia Program at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. He was formerly a professor at Georgetown University in Qatar and in the War Studies Department of King’s College London. From 1985 to 1998, Lieven worked as a journalist in South Asia, the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe and covered the wars in Afghanistan, Chechnya and the southern Caucasus. Lieven is the author of several books, including "Chechnya: Tombstone of Russian Power?" and "Ukraine and Russia: A Fraternal Rivalry."