In this essay I present my contribution to the understanding of the dramatic geopolitical events we have witnessed in the past two years. This contribution is aimed at the understanding of the events, which is necessary for Western public opinion, but in no way at the justification of the events, the outrage at Russia's unprovoked aggression having to be firm and its countering by the West resolute and unwavering. My analysis, unlike that of most publications in circulation today on all kinds of platforms, is not based on the contemporaneity and background noise of history, but is inscribed in Fernand Braudel's conception of the longue durée. This analysis is based on two complementary pillars: A) a reconstruction of Ukrainian-Russian history that is poorly known in the West, but is an indepensible factor in the formation of any serious judgment of events, especially in view of its total distortion operated by the Putinian regime as a tool of propaganda and obfuscation of not only Russian but also Western minds. B) firsthand testimony of how in the eight years of my diplomatic service in Moscow I watched the autocratic, aggressive and ultimately delusional involution of the Russian Federation unfold live.
My ambition is that my humble contribution, along with those of such great non-fiction and academic pens as Elena Kostioukovitch (In the Mind of Putin), Marta Ottaviani (Russian Brigades) and Giulia Lami (Ukraine in 100 Dates), foster the awakening of reason in the sleepy West by making the general public understand that the Putin regime despite Russia's marginal economic importance poses the most serious and most dangerous threat to our way of life, to our commitment to build a just, prosperous and sustainable world in which everyone can realize their constructive designs in peace. Economics is a fundamental aspect of consocial living, but it is not the only one, and the tremendous experience we are going through should teach us to consider the incidence of other factors, especially negative ones, which we should never forget.
The English version of the Essay has been finalised by the author and it is now a task for the Italian Publisher and the author to find a Publisher willing to produce it in tradtional paper format
and /or in eBook format