With reference to David Kotz’s column of June 26 [“Understanding the Ukraine War”], I’m unsure whether the writer is trolling us or is a die-hard Putin apologist, but, readers should understand that he comes from a long line of tsarist and Soviet supporters who say crazy stuff like “Putin is indeed a dictator” but not a “fascist.” Putin is just “seeking to unite the ethnic groups” of Russia. Krikey! Just like America’s Christian nationalists are simply trying to dictate the terms of unification to the rest of us.

Having been trained as a Ph.D. in Russian history in the 1960s, I can assure you that Prof. Kotz comes from a long line of ideological absolutists whose political prescriptions always prove disastrous for Western nations. Please, folks, read Timothy Snyder’s articles on Ukraine, which you can find on Substack. This will be your antidote.

John Sinton

Florence