David Roger Marples

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Le monument dédié aux victimes de la catastrophe de Tchernobyl se dresse devant un vaste dôme installé au-dessus du réacteur qui a explosé à la centrale nucléaire de Tchernobyl, en Ukraine. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

La catastrophe nucléaire de Tchernobyl, 40 ans plus tard

David Roger Marples, University of Alberta

L’accident nucléaire de Tchernobyl a dispersé des rayonnements à travers l’Europe et provoqué des transformations qui ont contribué à l’effondrement de l’URSS.
The monument dedicated to the victims of the Chernobyl disaster stands in front of a large dome installed over the exploded reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear plant, Chernobyl, Ukraine. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Forty years after the Chernobyl disaster, its legacy still resonates

David Roger Marples, University of Alberta

The nuclear incident at Chernobyl spread radiation across Europe and led to political changes that played a role in the collapse of the Soviet Union.
People hold a traditional Belarusian flag with a portrait of presidential candidate Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya during a rally in Minsk, Belarus, in August 2020. She’s among 20 people being tried in absentia. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

Sham trial is Belarusian strongman’s latest attempt to silence critics — even those living abroad

David Roger Marples, University of Alberta

Having silenced critics at home, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko is now seeking to do so beyond the country’s borders.
In this photo released by Sputnik news agency on Feb. 9, 2024, Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during an interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson at the Kremlin in Moscow. (Gavriil Grigorov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Vladimir Putin justifies his imperial aims in Tucker Carlson interview

David Roger Marples, University of Alberta

Why is there such a Russian focus on the Second World War? Because it’s used to justify authoritarian states, the rule of dictators like Putin and Belarus’s Alexander Lukashenko.
Yaroslav Hunka, right, waits for the arrival of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the House of Commons on Sept. 22, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Patrick Doyle

Canada’s House speaker quits: What the Hunka scandal reveals about Second World War complexities

David Roger Marples, University of Alberta

Russia seeks evidence in western countries that justifies its anti-Ukraine propaganda, and Canadian Parliament has provided it with much-needed ammunition for a tired and erroneous argument.
Belarusian volunteers receive military training at the Belarusian Company base in Kyiv, Ukraine, in March 2022. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Fighting for a future: The Belarusian regiment in Ukraine is staking its claim on democracy

David Roger Marples, University of Alberta and Katsiaryna Lozka, Ghent University

Belarusians make up one of the most prominent contingents of foreign fighters in Ukraine. Here’s why they’re fighting and what they hope to achieve for Belarus as well as Ukraine.
People with old Belarusian national flags march during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus, in October 2020. Tens of thousands rallied to demand the resignation of the country’s authoritarian leader. (AP Photo)

Belarusians are facing discrimination and blame for Russia’s war in Ukraine

David Roger Marples, University of Alberta and Katsiaryna Lozka, Ghent University

The benevolence shown to Belarusian exiles in 2020 has turned into hostility because of Russia’s attack on Ukraine. How is it fair to blame citizens for the actions of a regime they despise?
A Ukrainain boy sits in a swing at a playground outside a building destroyed during attacks in Irpin, Ukraine, on the outskirts of Kyiv, in May 2022. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

Here are the terrible costs of Vladimir Putin’s enduring war in Ukraine

David Roger Marples, University of Alberta

Ukraine is facing a struggle for survival. Its population could fall to 30 million by the time the war ends, with cities destroyed, crops expropriated and thousands already killed and wounded.
Belarusian volunteers receive military training at the Belarusian Company base in Kyiv, Ukraine, on March 8, 2022. Despite the Belarus-Russian alliance, hundreds of Belarusian emigrants and citizens have arrived in Ukraine to help the Ukrainian army. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Ukraine war: Ordinary Belarusians are also being victimized by Russia

David Roger Marples, University of Alberta

The Belarusian regime is bitterly despised by its people, but it survives through the use of force and Russian support. Belarusians don’t want war, and their country is also under occupation.
The Volodymyr the Great monument, erected in 1853, in Kyiv. Volodymyr was a warlord who became the first Russian ruler to convert to Christianity in the late 900s. A similar statue was erected in Moscow in 2016 as a counter to Ukraine’s. (Shutterstock)

Vladimir Putin points to history to justify his Ukraine invasion, regardless of reality

David Roger Marples, University of Alberta

As an independent country, Ukraine has suffered from corruption, poverty and violent periods, but Vladimir Putin’s view of Ukrainian history in Ukraine is deeply, perhaps deliberately flawed.
Russian tanks take part in drills at the Kadamovskiy firing range in the Rostov region in southern Russia in January 2022. Tens of thousands of Russian troops are positioned near Ukraine. (AP Photo)

Russia has reached the point of no return in its conflict with Ukraine

David Roger Marples, University of Alberta

Pro-democracy uprisings in Slavic states were unsuccessful, but there’s festering discontent in the region. Russia attributes it to western interference, and intends to reverse the trend in Ukraine.

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