Preface

Abstract

Extract On February 24, 2022, Russia invaded the sovereign nation of Ukraine, and for a third time in the past century, Europe was plunged into war. As of the time of this writing, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine rages on, with few signs that the conflict will abate any time soon. The inability of the Russian military to swiftly take control of Ukrainian territory, unlike when Russia invaded Crimea in 2014, has been due in part to a forceful international response in defense of Ukraine. Vladimir Putin’s evident frustration with the ineffectiveness of the Russian military campaign turned quickly to a punitive stance toward Ukraine: If Ukraine will not be part of Russia, it must cease to exist. The result has been a criminal campaign against the Ukrainian people, against Ukrainian life, against the Ukrainian language, and against anything that would signify that Ukraine is a separate country with a distinct history and culture of its own.This book was originally inspired by a similar campaign against culture waged in the Middle East during the Global War on Terror. As we commemorated the twentieth anniversary of that war during the fall of 2021 and the impact of twenty years of war on all aspects of the international security environment, we were reminded of the degree to which wars of aggression are all too often attacks on culture, on a way of life that is anathema to the attackers. And in that sense, the campaigns waged by the Taliban, Al Qaeda, and later the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) achieved at least part of their objectives. In the space of a few short hours, starting in the early morning hours of September 11, 2001, U.S. culture was transformed dramatically and irrevocably: the United States pivoted from focusing on how to avoid international armed conflict with rogue nations to an overwhelming focus on fighting non-state actors waging a jihad against not only Western democracy, but liberal culture as well. Ironically, the United States and Western Europe have now come full circle. After more than two decades learning how to fight violent non-state actors, we are once more honing our skills on the challenges of international armed conflict.