Slava Ukraini. Who Dares Shares, is an observational diary written over the first eighteen months of the Russo/Ukraine war that began in February 2022. Frustrated by the lack of attention that the world media was paying to the build up of Russian Forces on the Belarus/Ukraine border in January 2022 Robin Horsfall began to post critical warnings on social media outlets. When the war began he continued to write and assess the situation drawing from his British Special Forces background. He gradually gained a following of over one million who read his posts every week and contrasted them favourably against the 'clickbait' and sound bite reports of the national media. Slava Ukraine means Glory to Ukraine and Who Dares Shares has become the key phrase or jingle that Robin is now recognised by. Opinionated, accurate and free of any vested interests the book takes the reader almost daily through the developments and emotions that the war has invoked.
Robin Horsfall shot and killed one of the leading terrorists inside the Iranian Embassy when the SAS stormed the building. He served with the SAS during the Falklands War and on subsequent counter-terrorist operations. He tells his personal odyssey from boy-soldier to paratrooper with insight and wisdom. His enemies were not just terrorists: he fought the institutionalized brutality of the Parachute Regiment -- and his own inner demons. He learned the difference between physical and moral courage; between officers who expect you to be ready to die for them, and those who actually want you to get killed so they can win a medal. It's an action-packed narrative, but much more than another RAMBO-style romp. Robin reveals some painful truths, not least the ordinary SAS men's view of General de la Billiere and his orders for a kamikaze mission to Argentina. This is the best, no-holds barred, personal account of an SAS trooper ever published.
When guns began firing again in Europe, why was it Ukraine that became the battlefield? Conventional wisdom dictates that Ukraine's current crisis can be traced to the linguistic differences and divided political loyalties that have long fractured the country. However this theory only obscures the true significance of Ukraine's recent civic revolution and the conflict's crucial international dimension. The 2013-14 Ukrainian revolution presented authoritarian powers in Russia with both a democratic and a geopolitical challenge. President Vladimir Putin reacted aggressively by annexing the Crimea and sponsoring the war in eastern Ukraine; and Russia's actions subsequently prompted Western sanctions and growing international tensions reminiscent of the Cold War. Though the media portrays the situation as an ethnic conflict, an internal Ukrainian affair, it is in reality reflective of a global discord, stemming from differing views on state power, civil society, and democracy. The Conflict in Ukraine: What Everyone Needs to Know explores Ukraine's contemporary conflict and complicated history of ethnic identity, and it does do so by weaving questions of the country's fraught relations with its former imperial master, Russia, throughout the narrative. In denying Ukraine's existence as a separate nation, Putin has adopted a stance similar to that of the last Russian tsars, who banned the Ukrainian language in print and on stage. Ukraine emerged as a nation-state as a result of the imperial collapse in 1917, but it was subsequently absorbed into the USSR. When the former Soviet republics became independent states in 1991, the Ukrainian authorities sought to assert their country's national distinctiveness, but they failed to reform the economy or eradicate corruption. As Serhy Yekelchyk explains, for the last 150 years recognition of Ukraine as a separate nation has been a litmus test of Russian democracy, and the Russian threat to Ukraine will remain in place for as long as the Putinist regime is in power. In this concise and penetrating book, Yekelchyk describes the current crisis in Ukraine, the country's ethnic composition, and the Ukrainian national identity. He takes readers through the history of Ukraine's emergence as a sovereign nation, the after-effects of communism, the Orange Revolution, the EuroMaidan, the annexation of the Crimean Peninsula, the war in the Donbas, and the West's attempts at peace making. The Conflict in Ukraine is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the forces that have shaped contemporary politics in this increasingly important part of Europe. What Everyone Needs to Know® is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press.
A beautifully illustrated, high quality book by a true war poet. Robin Horsfall became a soldier in 1972. He served from the age of fifteen up to the age of thirty-two with the Parachute Regiment, the SAS, the Sultans of Oman's Armed Forces, the Army of Sri Lanka and was a Major in 'Frelimo' the Army of Mozambique. He studied Karate for most of his adult life achieving the rank of 6th Dan Black Belt until 2011 when a neck fracture changed his life. During his recovery he went to Surrey University (something that would have astonished his parents and school teachers) and studied English literature with creative writing. He graduated in 2016. He found a joy in the forms and rhythms of poetry. In 2018 he was diagnosed with bladder cancer but recovered after surgery. The collection is in many ways a soldier's story in poetry. A warrior poet, he has kindly been compared to other, more famous war poets.
This is the third Wise Old Paratrooper book. It is the last in a trilogy of philosophical proverbs, short stories, maxims and poetry by one of the United Kingdom's best-known SAS soldiers. Thought provoking, humorous and often moving this anthology reveals many of emotions and inner thoughts of a 'tough guy'. This book is a blend of warrior poet, martial arts sage, military historian and just plain soldier comedian. It takes the reader from the sublime to the ridiculous and back without pause. Satirical and humorous stories are balanced with maxims that demand introspection and self-examination. This collection is short and fast moving but once finished the reader is compelled to return to the beginning to discover what was missed the first time around.
This volume is an updated edition of Serhy Yekelchyk's 2015 publication, The Conflict in Ukraine. It addresses Ukraine's relations with the West from the perspective of Ukrainians. It looks at what we know about alleged Ukrainian interference in the 2016 US presidential election, the factors behind the stunning electoral victory of the political novice Volodymyr Zelensky, and the ways in which the events leading to the impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump have changed the Russia-Ukraine-US relationship.
In this book, the renowned historian Orest Subtelny, who wrote Ukraine: A History, describes to us how, in 1911, a small group of teachers, whose people lived under foreign rule, at the crossroads of empires, took Baden Powell's idea, adapted it to their circumstances and formed a scouting organization for the betterment of Ukrainian youth and to provide hope to the Ukrainian nation. The organization was buffeted by history — repression, war, emigration, dispersement throughout the world — and finally found renewal in a free Ukraine. It was an amazing journey, truly a unique story.
Featuring a number of pioneering essays by the internationally known Russian cultural historians Boris Uspenskij and Victor Zhivov, this collection includes a number of essays appearing in English for the fi rst time. Focusing on several of the most interesting and problematic aspects of Russia's cultural development, these essaysexamine the survival and the reconceptualization of the past in later cultural systems and some of the key transformations of Russian cultural consciousness. The essays in this collection contain some important examples of Russian cultural semiotics and remain indispensable contributions to the history of Russian civilization.
