Geopolitics expert: ‘Ukraine in geopolitical deadlock’
By Christine Nicole Montojo
Polish geopolitics expert Dr. Krystian Cholaszczynski honed in on the importance of the Russo-Ukranian war on global geopolitics in his lecture last March 23 at the University’s Thomas Aquinas Research Complex.
Cholaszczynski, an expert from the Academy of Social and Media Culture (AKSIM) in Torun, remarked that the war in Ukraine is not going to end anytime soon.
“The prolonged conflict in Ukraine is spreading in ever-widening circles, like a tornado,” Cholaszcyznski said.
Due to the position of Ukraine and other states within Central Europe, the two nations acted as a buffer to Russian advances in the region.
However, with Russia being “pushed aside” for China in Central Asia, it has gone on the offensive, and if they win, Ukraine may be a stepping stone to greater Russian expansion.
‘Army from another century’
Dr. Lino Baron, an interdisciplinary studies professor, said that Russian President Vladimir Putin had severely underestimated how Ukraine would react to the invasion last year.
“There were many things Putin underestimated; the most fatal underestimation concerns a man named Volodymyr Zelenskyy,” Baron said.
Ukraine, despite the invasion, had resisted against Russian incursion. Baron also cited that their president kept morale and rallied the country to fight.
“This was a war of advanced weaponry,” he added, explaining that the Russian army was not ready for battle against Ukraine in the first place.
A battle of capitals
Dr. Cholaszczynski also stressed that the rivalries that sparked the Russo-Ukrainian war will not be fought on Ukrainian soil.
Most of the battles ahead were diplomatic in nature, levying supplies and resources rather than full on military warfare.
“The battlefield will not be Donbas and Kherson, but the Washington-Berlin-Brussels axis,” he said.
Other than the geopolitical implications, the displacement of millions of Ukranians and the uncontrolled migration in Western Europe has potential to destabilize the continent.
Cholaszczynski first visited the University in 2018, where he talked about the same topic of Russo-Ukraine relations.
In this year’s lecture, the Faculty of Arts and Letters political science and journalism students were encouraged to watch the lecture in-person.
Thomasians can watch the replay of this lecture on the Faculty of Arts and Letters’ Facebook page.
