Tag Archives: Ukraine invasion

Meacham, Eliot on Democratic Heroism

By Robin Bates | Published: March 20, 2022

Jon Meacham recently cited “Middlemarch” in a discussion about democratic notions of heroism.

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Zelenskyy Could Be a Hugo Character

By Robin Bates | Published: March 17, 2022

Friday A Washington Post column yesterday reminded me of a post I wrote a year ago and which I am reconfiguring for today. Seeking to balance the inspiring leadership of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky with the grim reality of the war, David Ignatius wrote, Zelensky has taken the West with him, emotionally, to the barricades […]

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For GOP, Hellish Descent Is the Easy Part

By Robin Bates | Published: March 16, 2022

NeverTrumper Bill Krisol recently quoted Virgil in revealing that he may have to vote for a Democrat in the next presidential election.

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A Bakhtinian Reading of Zelenskyy

By Robin Bates | Published: March 14, 2022

To understand Ukraine’s Zelensky, Adam Gopnik applies the theories of Mikhail Bakhtin.

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Did Russian Officials Recruit Dead Souls?

By Robin Bates | Published: March 13, 2022

Did Russian officials claim to pay money to corrupt Ukrainian officials while actually pocketing the money? Cue Gogol’s “Dead Souls.”

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He Beholds the City with Tears in His Eyes

By Robin Bates | Published: March 12, 2022

Today’s Gospel reading can be applied to Russia’s attack on Ukrainian cities. So can this Malcolm Guite poem.

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What Russia Can Expect If It Wins

By Robin Bates | Published: March 9, 2022

If the Russians were to conquer Ukraine, Steinbeck’s “The Moon Is Down” gives us a good picture of what could happen next.

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Murakami and Kyiv’s Zoo Crisis

By Robin Bates | Published: March 8, 2022

The Kyiv Zoo is finding itself caught up in the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Murakami anticipates such a situation in “Wind-Up Bird Chronicle.”

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The Decision to Stay or to Leave

By Robin Bates | Published: March 7, 2022

To leave Ukraine or stay in it: these poems grapple with such a dilemma.

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