Edition No. 63
Arts and Culture
Stories this past week on how Ukrainian visual and performing artists and arts institutions are responding to the current Russian invasion.
Community and Family
Local media has been filled with stories about how the Russian invasion has prompted worry as well as charitable and advocacy efforts by local Ukrainian Americans.
American Democracy
Where does the US, Europe, and the world now stand because of the invasion?
Protecting Ukrainian Art and Culture
CBS News, ARTNews, The Art Newspaper, and NPR had fascinating stories this past week on how Ukrainian visual and performing artists and arts institutions are responding to the current invasion as well as Putin’s longer-term effort to restore Moscow's political, economic, and cultural hegemony by denying the very existence of Ukraine as a distinct nation with its own people, culture, history, and right to self-determination.
In “Cultural Heritage Experts Fear Russian President Vladimir Putin Out to Destroy Ukraine's History,” CBS News visited a museum of Ukrainian culture in Stamford, Connecticut to explore fears that one of the invasion's objectives may be the systematic erasure of Ukrainian history and culture.
ARTNews’ “Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine Intensifies, Artists and Institutions React to an Uncertain Future” focused on continuing efforts by Ukrainian museum curators to protect and preserve their nation's cultural resources.
NPR highlighted how, Ukrainian musicians, rejecting Russia is a matter of national pride.
Finally, The Art Newspaper’s “From naked protests to blockchain fundraising: how artists are protesting Russia's invasion of Ukraine” focused on how visual artists, including some in Russia, are protesting the invasion.
The Local Dimension
Metro Detroit is home to a large and active Ukrainian American community. Not surprisingly, our local media has been filled with stories about how the Russian invasion has prompted worry as well as charitable and advocacy efforts by local Ukrainian Americans. Two items, however, one from Channel 7 another from the Detroit Free Press, really stood out.
WXYZ Channel 7 told us about Steve Andre, a metro-Detroit photojournalist currently working in Ukraine and how his perspective and definition of his role have been involving in recent days as the metro Detroit community supports Ukraine amid crisis with Russia.
The Sunday Detroit Free Press reported on local rallies in support of the Ukrainian people and efforts to not just mobilize medical and relief aid but to influence US policy, “Ukrainian Americans, who number roughly 37,000 in Michigan, are also getting active in contracting elected official, urging them to support tough sanctions against Russia and increase aid to defend Ukraine.”
Where does the Invasion leave America, Europe, and the World?
There is no doubt that America has played a leadership role in our world since World War II if not earlier. As a result, what we do, or not do, at this time could have significant consequences for our national interest and the global order but even greater, potentially tragic, consequences for the Ukrainian people. Not surprisingly, there has been an enormous amount of material coming out this past week about the Russian invasion of Ukraine and where the US, Europe, and the world now stand because of that invasion.
“Our world is not going to be the same again because this war has no historical parallel. It is a raw, 18th-century style landgrab by a superpower – but in a 21st-century globalized world.” – Thomas L. Friedman in the New York Times
The Sunday, February 27, 2022, print edition of the New York Times featured several articles on the invasion, including a piece from Thomas L. Friedman, “We Have Never Been Here Before.” The Friedman piece is long but approachable and important.
“… the West can put itself on the side of decency and dignity in this conflict. Wars that are won are never won forever. All too often countries defeat themselves over time by launching and then winning the wrong wars.” – Iana Fix and Michael Kimmage in Foreign Affairs
Writing for Foreign Affairs immediately before the invasion, Iana Fix and Michael Kimmage considered how Europe and the Atlantic alliance would change if Russia again controlled Ukraine for a time. Fix is a Resident Fellow at the German Marshall Fund in Washington DC and Kimmage a Professor of History at the Catholic University of America and a Visiting Fellow at the German Marshall Fund. The Foreign Affairs piece is long and very complex but truly magisterial consideration of the question, “What if Russia wins?”
“By casually meddling in Ukrainian politics in recent years, the United States has effectively incited Russia to undertake its reckless invasion. Putin richly deserves the opprobrium currently being heaped on him. But US policy has been both careless and irresponsible.” – Andrew Bacevich in the Boston Globe
Skip Bacevich is one of those rare scholar-warriors. A retired Army Colonel, he is an informed and respected commentator on US foreign policy who has long argued that American foreign policy has become overly militarized. He currently heads the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft near Boston and previously taught at Boston University, Johns Hopkins, and West Point. Writing in the Boston Globe, he sees post-Cold War US foreign policy as having played a significant role in provoking Putin. Although his may not be a popular view, Bacevich’s argument is well-made and, perhaps, the US can’t absolve itself of responsibility for Putin’s invasion.
Inspired Thoughts is a collection of highly curated content that embraces the spirit and purpose of The War Memorial: arts and culture, community enrichment, leadership, and patriotism.
Derived from the notion that learning from others is the key to success, Inspired Thoughts is meant to shine a light on those making a difference in the world around them. This collection features artists, poets, writers, architects, and every thought leader in-between. Inspired Thoughts is the strongest reflection of what The War Memorial stands for, and what we aim to be.
The content featured on Inspired Thoughts is curated by War Memorial leadership — we also look forward to featuring special guest curators in the near future. If you are interested in providing content for Inspired Thoughts, please email our Communications team at dmurphy@warmemorial.org.