An honor to see Intent to Destroy on the The Kyiv Independent top-10 list, together with excellent books by Yaroslav Trofimov , Serhii Plokhy , Oleksandr Mykhed and others.

What surprises me is Russia's subdued reaction to Assad's fall. They used to scream bloody murder, CIA coup, illegitimate junta every time a dictator fell; Putin had a photo of dead Gaddafi up close, and now nothing. This is not how a power hellbent on changing global order talks

This December’s The Historian’s Quarterly book of the month goes to…. “Intent to Destroy” by Eugene Finkel! This book reveals the current Russo-Ukrainian war in its proper historical context in terms of a 200 year old genocidal project to turn Ukraine’s into Russians; proving

Echoing Phillips P. OBrien recommendation to buy Eugene Finkel superb new book explaining the history of Russia’s colonization of it’s neighbour over the past few centuries and how Putin’s actions were stymied by patriotic Ukrainians, which I reviewed for Booksin5 below! 1/5

The path to undermining Putin doesn’t just lie through Ukraine. Defeat him in Georgia, Moldova, Syria, on the seas and in Asia to undermine his delusions of superpower status…here’s how theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

Public Service Announcement: It is still not too late to make Intent to Destroy the perfect passive-aggressive holidays gift for your crazy, "these people are basically Russians, Lenin's mistake, 2014 coup, NATO expansion" uncle. He will hate it, my word goodreads.com/book/show/2094…

The The Kyiv Independent highlights the necessity of Eugene Finkel's INTENT TO DESTROY. "Finkel’s work underscores the profound stakes of this ongoing struggle, reminding readers of the human cost and the broader geopolitical implications of the war." kyivindependent.com/the-kyiv-indep…

Better late than never. Still, everyone, first and foremost Ukraine but also Europe and even Russia itself would have been better off if this happened 30 years earlier reuters.com/business/energ…

2025 mood

The Miller Center's Eric Edelman—joined by Eugene Finkel — discusses the long-term Russian effort to dominate and eliminate Ukrainian nationality, culture, and language on the latest episode of the #ShieldoftheRepublic podcast. zurl.co/XrNlJ