This is the Friends Vistula Debating Society.

I'm John Bachelworth.

My friend, Germanicus Mark of Lejos,

I am Gaius and we're Lundinium,

reflecting on events in the 21st century

that we can't see through, so we read about.

We're in the first century AD, things are very good for us.

And that is a happy roost to comment on turmoil

in the late 20th century and the early 21st century.

Of course, I'm speaking of Ukraine,

but in the new book by the professor

of Ukrainian history, Sergei Polki.

It's called the Russo-Ukrainian War,

the return of history.

I've spoken with the professors twice over the years,

his book about Yalta and his most recent book

about the Cuban Missile Crisis,

but this book is about his native Ukraine

and the background, which is 1,000 years long.

But we're going to concentrate on just what Vladimir Putin

has been reading these last years

to bolster his opinion of the war in Ukraine.

...