Profs and Pints DC presents: “Are Europe and Russia at War?” on an escalating overseas conflict and its implications for the United States, with Michael Kimmage, director of the Wilson Center’s Kennan Institute, former U.S. State Department planner for Ukraine and Russia, and author of Collisions: The Origins of the War in Ukraine and the New Global Instability.
The past few months have witnessed a dramatic escalation of the war in Ukraine, soon to enter into its fifth year. Europe is very much a party to that conflict, and Russia is flirting with actions that could push Europe closer to direct involvement.
Learn about the latest developments in that conflict and what they portend for Europe, NATO, and our own nation with Michael Kimmage, a former Catholic University historian who has given outstanding Profs and Pints talks on Ukraine in the past.
He’ll help you make sense of recent headlines regarding interruptions in Ukrainian access to Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet service, Ukraine’s attacks on Russian data centers, and President Trump’s agreement to purchase Russian diesel fuel and waiver of economic sanctions on Russia.
We’ll look at how Europe has assisted Ukraine in hitting targets inside of Russia, such as data centers and oil refineries, and how Russia has increased its sabotage and subversion efforts in Europe, recently mounting a failed attack on Germany’s Leipzig airport.
We’ll explore the open question of whether Europe and Russia are already at war with one another. If so, what will this mean for the war in Ukraine itself? What will it mean for the possibility that a Russia-Europe war could become a Russia-NATO war? How does it complicate the prospects of a peaceful settlement of the conflict in Ukraine in the foreseeable future?
We’ll also look at the difficult relations between Europe and the United States in the second term of President Donald Trump, from the recent White House deal to purchase Russian diesel to the possibility that Starlink access to Ukraine might be reduced or cut off, rendering it more vulnerable to Russian attacks. (Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Listed time is for doors. The talk starts 30 minutes later.)
Image: A Lithuanian air defense battalion (Lithuanian Air Force photo / Wikimedia Commons).