All eyes have been on Ukraine since Russia began its invasion of the country last month. The media has been covering it extensively, and Americans are showing solidarity and support in droves through donations and on social media.

“My heart hurts for the Ukrainians, who are being attacked for no reason,” says Friday host Esty Dinur. But she wonders: what makes this so different from when the U.S. entered Afghanistan or Iraq?

Today on the show, she takes up this question with historian Robert Buzzanco, who has written about the Cold War, the Vietnam War, U.S. military intervention, the military-industrial complex, and the military budget. Together, they put the crisis in Ukraine in the context of other wars and American militarism.

Robert Buzzanco is a professor of history at the University of Houston who specializes in Vietnam and foreign policy. He is the author of several books and co-host of the Green and Red Podcast.

Cover photo: “Servicemen of the Emergency service of Ukraine dispose Russian bombs during the battle of Chernihiv, 9 March 2022” by State Emergency Service of Ukraine, licensed under CC BY 4.0

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