Explaining Ukraine’s second Maidan: A review of Chris Kaspar de Ploeg, Ukraine in the Crossfire (Clarity Press, 2017)

Since the unrest of 2014—the Maidan protests, the outbreak of separatist war in Donbass, the annexation of Crimea and the MH17 plane crash—it seems Ukraine is not getting much attention. The Donbass conflict was even coined a “forgotten war”. Additionally, the mainstream discourse explains Ukraine’s misfortune purely as a consequence of the influence of Russian imperialism. The country is seen as a victim of “one-sided” geopolitics; at the same time, the media and politicians alike idealise Ukraine’s pro-Western governments.

Chris Kaspar de Ploeg’s Ukraine in the Crossfire helps to overcome this imbalance and provides a much needed, informative analysis of present day Ukraine. In contrast to the mainstream picture, de Ploeg goes beyond the anti-Russian hysteria and depicts the country as a sphere of influence of three imperialisms: Russia, the European Union and the United States.