Western Reaches #28

--China-Tajikistan bilateral trade reaches 3.93 bln USD in 2023, up more than 50% from a year ago.--Global brands extend their reach to central and western China.--China and the U.S. lead global AI innovation as new entrants surge in 2023.

Situated on the northern reaches of Ukraine in what was once the heart of the western Soviet empire, the Chernobyl nuclear exclusion zone now consists of nearly 3,000 square kilometers of pristine forest that is eerily devoid of any sizable human population. At the heart of this atomic wasteland sits the now defunct and still... Read More

Russian missile assaults on Ukraine this week and G7 / NATO pledges to increase defence of Ukraine. - Vladimir Putin says further missile attacks of this magnitude not necessary. There is Western military speculation Russia's military may be running short of weaponry, missiles, artillery and ammunition. What are the damages Ukraine suffered this week and might Ukraine military when/if it reaches the Russian border refuse to stop advancing? Guest: Olexander Scherba. Fmr Ukraine Ambassador. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The most heinous Soviet crimes - the Red Terror, brutal collectivization, the Great Famine, the Gulag, Stalin's Great Terror, mass deportations, and other atrocities - were treated in the West as a controversial topic. With the Cold War dichotomy of Western democracy versus Soviet communism deeply imprinted in our minds, we are not always aware that these crimes were very often questioned, dismissed, denied, sometimes rationalized, and even outright glorified in the Western world. Facing a choice of whom to believe -the survivors or Soviet propaganda- many Western opinion leaders chose in favor of Soviet propaganda. Even those who did not believe it behaved sometimes as if they did. Blissful Blindness: Soviet Crimes under Western Eyes (Indiana UP, 2023) explores Western reactions (and lack thereof) to Soviet crimes from the Bolshevik revolution to the collapse of Soviet communism in order to understand ideological, political, economic, cultural, personal, and other motivations behind this puzzling phenomenon of willful ignorance. But the significance of Dariusz Tolczyk's book reaches beyond its direct historical focus. Written for audiences not limited to scholars and specialists, this book not only opens one's eyes to rarely examined aspects of the twentieth century but also helps one see how astonishingly relevant this topic is in our contemporary world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/journalism