Nicolas J. S. Davies – författare

In this new edition of their bestselling book, Medea Benjamin and Nicolas Davies bring their account of the war in Ukraine up-to-date, to try and answer burning questions about how and why the conflict still rages on after three years of carnage, and who and what stand in the way of a stable and lasting peace. They examine the claims and counter-claims around the stalemate on the battlefield, the continuing expansion of NATO with the addition of Finland and Sweden, and contradictions in US and NATO policy as the war drags on.They also examine the divisions among U.S. progressives that hindered the emergence of a strong anti-war movement and abandoned the anti-war position in Congress to the extreme right.The authors describe Russia’s February 2022 invasion as a tragic and indefensible crime. However, they insist that Western government and media circles’ presentation of the conflict as a simple dichotomy between an evil empire and an innocent victim is a distortion of a more complicated chain of events.The West's reneging on promises not to expand NATO in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union revived Cold War tensions. The violent overthrow of Ukraine’s elected government in 2014 caused the disintegration of the country, and its failure to implement the Minsk peace agreement led to an escalating conflict that the world has so far failed to resolve, one that could conceivably end in all-out war between the United States and Russia-the world's two leading nuclear-armed powers.Skillfully bringing together the historical record and current analysis, War in Ukraine looks at the events leading up to the conflict, surveys the different parties involved, and weighs the risks of escalation and opportunities for peace. For anyone who wants to get beneath the heavily propagandized media coverage to an understanding of a war with consequences that could prove cataclysmic, this widely acclaimed book will prove invaluable.

Russia’s brutal February 2022 invasion of Ukraine has attracted widespread condemnation across the West. Government and media circles present the conflict as a simple dichotomy between an evil empire and an innocent victim. In this concise, accessible and highly informative primer, Medea Benjamin and Nicolas Davies insist the picture is more complicated. Yes, Russia’s aggression was reckless and, ultimately, indefensible. But the West’s reneging on promises to halt eastward expansion of NATO in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union played a major part in prompting Putin to act. So did the U.S. involvement in the 2014 Ukraine coup and Ukraine's failure to implement the Minsk peace agreements. The result is a conflict that is increasingly difficult to resolve, one that could conceivably escalate into all-out war between the United States and Russia—the world’s two leading nuclear powers.Skillfully bringing together the historical record and current analysis, War In Ukraine looks at the events leading up to the conflict, surveys the different parties involved, and weighs the risks of escalation and opportunities for peace. For anyone who wants to get beneath the heavily propagandized media coverage to an understanding of a war with consequences that could prove cataclysmic, reading this timely book will be an urgent necessity.