[WAITLIST] Lara Marlowe: Ukraine’s Quest to Join the West

Tugann Coláiste na nEalaíon agus na nDaonnachtaí UCD cuireadh croíúil duit, i gcomhpháirt le Scoil na dTeanagcha, na gCultúr agus na Teangeolaíochta UCD, freastal ar Léacht Bhliantúil an Choláiste.

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Lara Marlowe will deliver a personal assessment of Ukraine’s frustrated quest to join the West and its chances of survival as an sovereign and independent nation.

Ukraine has European roots stretching back to the Middle Ages, but Ukrainians say their country was hi-jacked by the Russian empire and the Soviet Union for the last 300 years.

“Get Away from Moscow! Onward to Europe,” was the slogan of the Executed Renaissance, a generation of writers and artists wiped out by Stalin in the 1930s. The same slogan was taken up by demonstrators on the Maidan in 2013/14 when the Revolution of Dignity drove Viktor Yanukovich, a puppet of Vladimir Putin, from office. Putin fought back, seizing Crimea and much of Donbas and starting a deadly war now entering its 12th year.

Europe and the US extended repeated invitations to Ukraine to join the EU and NATO but always refused to set a target date for accession. In February, US President Donald Trump betrayed more than three decades of western promises when he adopted Putin’s rhetoric to announce that Ukraine will not be allowed to join NATO. There is the tiniest hope that Europe may come to Ukraine’s rescue.