Radio War Nerd EP #650 — No Peace in Ukraine, feat. Anatol Lieven
Guest: Anatol Lieven
Recorded: November 12, 2026
Author Anatol Lieven returns to the pod to discuss the Ukraine war peace talks in Abu Dhabi, such as they were, the dim prospects for peace anytime soon, the dangers of the ongoing war widening, and possible hopeful signs.
Further reading:
-"Kushner & Witkoff do the Abu Dhabi Shuffle: Ukraine Peace Ahead?", Anatol Lieven, Responsible Statecraft, November 12, 2026
-"Slouching toward Kaliningrad, NATO dismisses a nuclear threat", Anatol Lieven, Responsible Statecraft, October 23, 2026
*Buy Anatol's books, including his latest "Climate Change and the Nation-State: A Realist Case".
Further listening:
-Radio War Nerd EP #384 — Prigozhin's Mutiny, feat. Anatol Lieven
-Radio War Nerd #291 — Afghanistan Collapse, with Anatol Lieven
Total time: 52:18
Direct link to this episode's mp3 here
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Sound production by Telescope Audio
Comments (4)
The security architecture of Europe and the Ukrainian war are two completely different discussions. The Russians have repeated this over and over, if this guy thinks the US pulling out of Finland they can get Russia to agree to a ceasefire is just delusional. The Ukraine war is its own monster now and will be fought to its military conclusion. It’s not possible for the Russians to trust the west enough to make good on any agreement enough to tie it to the war. It wouldn’t just be foolish to trust the us and eu, it would be incredibly irresponsible. Which however you feel about the guy, Putin is most definitely not.
They are very much related. The Russian proposal from December 2021, surprisingly or not, is on the table again -- no further attempt of NATO enlargement and rollback of all non-local military infrastructure, mostly US, to where it was in 1997, Ukraine as a neutral state. Now Ukraine would also have to be disarmed and purged of its ruling class. Otherwise, destruction of Ukraine will continue. There's a slight, tiny chance US could agree on evacuation of a large chunk of their troops from Europe. A new Great Depression would probably make it more likely to happen. Actual removal of US military infra from Eastern Europe is probably the only real chance for a de facto agreement in the world where no signed document is worth the paper it is printed on. Lieven is delusional if he thinks that a UNSC approved pact would be sufficient for Russia. They already had Minks 2, and nobody cared about it.
whenever i click the links to other episodes it leads me to the main page instead..--
Thank you, great interview.