I don’t like Anieri’s proposed solutions. While not entirely endorsing the idea, he seems to give too much credence to the approach of appeasement. But, while I may disagree with the implications of a few of his remarks, he gives a very thorough summary of the issues behind the modern Ukraine-Russia war. He doesn’t lie like Mearsheimer or Stephen Cohen and by focusing on the 90s and 00s, his book does a better job than any I’ve read at listing the actual disagreements that preceded the war and served as the catalysts. Ironically, his own historical insights don’t seem to suggest that there was ever a chance of appeasing Russia, so while he may criticize Andrew Wilson for saying “Russia went ape” his own factual analysis seems to confirm the exact same thing, that Russia went ape.