Listen to a radio broadcast too "controversial" for (West-)European ears.

(** POST-PUBLICATION INFO : Due to a technical error, the very last sentence of Dr. Petro's voice was cut from the video. He ends his explanation by saying "That's what I see the tragedy of Ukraine being." [min. 24:16] **)

A few days ago, Jonathan McCormick, the producer and narrator of this program contacted me saying that as a freelance journalist, he had produced a broadcast about the roots of the Ukraine War, which his usual outlet, Radio Slovakia International, refused to air. He was given various reasons but the bottom line is that the story was simply too controversial given the prevailing political mood in the country and in the West more generally.

Jonathan reached out to me if I wanted to publish it and sure I do, because he created a wonderful short radio piece featuring three interesting personalities:

Ruslan Kotsaba, a Ukrainian journalist and pacifist who some years ago was imprisoned in Ukraine for his peace activism and now lives in exile in Brooklyn.

Then, for the sake of balance, he asked for comment from Slovakia's foremost 'Russia expert', Alexander Duleba, whom he had interviewed a number of times before.

Last but not least, he also got extensive comments from a good friend of this show, Nicolai Petro, who’s a Professor of Political Science at Rhode Island University.

What seems to have made this piece too controversial for the Europeans was simply that Jonathan approached the story like a real journalist, trying to find answers and not to conform the story to a pre-determined narrative.

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