This week, a lecture about Ukraine, Russia, and the United States.

Catholic University Professor Michael Kimmich teaches a class on the history behind the war in Ukraine.

Ukraine is one of these countries, if you would think of the world as a set of jenga blocks.

Ukraine is one of those countries where if you pull it out, it's very likely

if the whole tower comes tumbling down. It's connected to many different places. It has a great

deal to do with the world economy. Professor Kimmage also talks about the competing U.S., Russian,

and Ukrainian interests from the Cold War through the 21st century that led to the ongoing conflict.

Okay, welcome, everybody, our audience in the classroom and our audience beyond to a class on the war in Ukraine, titled The History of the Present,

in which we're trying to go back into the past,

to do our very best understand events that are happening before our eyes in the present tense.

And today's class is going to be an overview of the war

with our typical back and forth between past and present,

and I'm going to try to explain, it's not a class in mathematics in the least,

but a rather simple formula that's there on the blackboard for those who can see it,

and the formula is A is not equal to B plus C.

And I'll explain in just a moment what that rather

mysterious mathematical formula in practice means. A is a variable that stands for Russian aspirations

with its military and foreign policy. That's one side of the equation. B is the foreign policy and military aspirations

of Ukraine. And C are the military and foreign affairs aspirations of the United States. B and C have gone

along pretty well for the last six months, and you've witnessed a very close partnership between Ukraine

and the United States. So in that sense, B plus C adds up to something significant. What it does not

add up to is A, and there has been a very significant clash between the aspirations of the United

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