By Anastasia Benstead, Assistant Editor-in-Chief
On Monday Oct. 7 Martin Nekola, a Czech political scientist, came to Aquinas to present on the War in Ukraine and the implications the conflict is causing in the rest of the European Union.
The event was sponsored by the provost’s office, along with the departments of history, political science and world languages in collaboration with OLLI, the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute.
While offered through the OLLI program, the lecture was free and open to all Aquinas community members. The event was so well attended that there was an overflow room where the presentation was being projected to in the upper library as well as persons attending the session synchronously via Zoom. OLLI confirmed attendance as 83 in-person and 25 virtual participants.
‘It was packed,” Ian MacNiel, director of OLLI, said.
Dozens of students fit into the new OLLi classroom – Photo by Ian MacNiel
Nekola began with a very brief introduction of both the cultural and political history of Ukraine, something he feels “is crucial to understanding what is happening there now.” Since being invaded by the Mongol army from the east in the 15th century Ukraine has been the subject of invasion and foreign rule until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Notably, Ukraine has also been politically divided east-west since the 1930s, with the east more likely to sympathize with Russian leaders and policy.
For Ukrainians, the transition from communism to capitalism was “painful and chaotic” Nekola said. It took a large part of the beginning of the 21st century for Ukraine to figure out who it was as a nation and how they would fit into the European Union and the world as a whole.
Aquinas undergrads listen attentively to Nekola – Photo by Ryan Lozinski
On Feb. 24 2022, the Russian army mobilized and entered Ukraine in what was predicted to be a quick and decisive victory in an effort to reform the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. For the past three and a half years native Ukrainians and other Europeans have been reeling from the effects. While some countries have not been able to effectively maneuver their practices around the conflict, some have found success.
“Before 97 per cent of gas in the Czech republic was from Russia,” Nekola said. “Now only 2 per cent comes from Russia. The dependence of supplies on Russia was a serious security threat, and the Kremlin has never hesitated to use gas and oil as a political weapon.”
Nekola received his PhD from Charles University in Prague in political science where his focus was non-democratic regimes and where he participated in the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe Election Observation Missions.
“I found his perspective super insightful,” freshman Farae Wilson said. “Especially because he was born in eastern Europe and spent time in Ukraine and so he had personal experience to share.”
For Russia, winning the war in Ukraine would be one step closer to becoming a global superpower, whereas to Ukraine, a victory would mean “to start over.” Nekola said. “Make deeply rooted political reforms and stop the killings.”
“Putin is in his own little world,” Nekola said. Due to his serious concerns about safety and privacy, Putin does not use a computer and only has a landline. “This is true, you can see photos of it.”
While the United States is very content to paint Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, in a very sympathetic light, Nekola brought up the fact that Zelensky has committed warcrimes, embezzled from the government and has broken false promises to the Ukrainian people.
“I found it very refreshing to critique Zelensky because the Ukrainian government is so corrupt,” Will Blanchard, Aquinas student and political science major, said. “Don’t get me wrong, I am in favor of Ukrainian sovereignty, but I appreciated how this lecture highlighted that this conflict is about more than just the good guys versus bad guys.”
Martin Nekola presenting – Photo by Ian Macniel
While discussing a war that has been ongoing for the past three years left some audience members feeling slightly hopeless, Nekola did share that he “feels confident we are going to win this war.”
The Saint 