If you want to understand the present, ask a man who has devoted his life to studying the past.

On the war in Ukraine, the historian Stephen Kotkin. Uncommon knowledge now.

Welcome to Uncommon Knowledge, I'm Peter Robinson. A professor of history at Princeton and

a fellow at the Hoover Institution here at Stanford, Stephen Kotkin grew up in New York City,

received his undergraduate degree from the University of Rochester, then took his doctorate from

the University of California at Berkeley. He is the author of nine works of history, nine

big works of history, including the first two volumes of his biography of Joseph Stalin,

paradoxes of power, 1878 to 1928, and waiting for Hitler, 1929 to 1941. Professor Kotkin is currently

working on the third and final volume of this definitive biography of Joseph Stalin.

This past January, Professor Kotkin and I sat down in a studio together to discuss Russia, China,

and the nature of modern war. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, I have received

request after request after request to ask Professor Kotkin what he makes of it all.

So joining us from his study on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, while I'm here with a fake

background because I'm using a spare bedroom at home, by Zoom, it is literally true to say Stephen

that you are back by popular demand. Stephen, welcome. Thank you so much, Peter. On February 24th,

Russian forces invade Ukraine. You and I are speaking on day eight of this war. I'd like to come to

the particulars of the war in a moment. But first, the entire event seemed so shocking. Nine days

ago, so unthinkable, maybe Putin would try to nibble off a piece of Ukraine. Maybe he might even

move into the Donbass region, the extreme eastern portion of Ukraine, but a full invasion of the

entire country. So first, I'd like to begin simply by asking you to make this coherent for us,

to help us to understand what the Russians could possibly have been thinking. Henry Kissinger

in 2014, the West must understand that to Russia, Ukraine can never be just a foreign country.

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