Russia’s Ancient Strategy, and Why the West Keeps Falling for It
From the Kalka River to Lake Peipus: Russia Turns East(Begin with ambient medieval Eastern European music, fading under narration)After the Rus’ catastrophic defeat at the Kalka River in 1223, and especially following the full-scale Mongol conquest in the campaigns of the late 1230s, Mongol dominance reshaped the eastern and western reaches of the Russian world.In the 13th century, Kyiv, now the capital of Ukraine, was still the spiritual and cultural heart of a region known as Kievan Rus. It wasn’t Russian in the modern sense. Its roots were Viking. The Norsemen who arrived in Eastern…
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