Reconciliation between parties in a violent conflict usually depends first of all on an end to the violence. In her contribution to this discussion forum, Oxana Shevel raised the challenges that Ukraine faces in the attempt to end the war in the Donbas, including the lack of desire among the Ukrainian political elites to compromise with Russia on issues of Ukraine’s sovereignty and the lack of incentives for Russia to stop backing the self-declared “republics” in the Donbas. Because an overall resolution to the conflict seems currently to be out of reach, Shevel rightly emphasizes the real possibilities of an internal dialogue now, under circumstances in Ukraine’s East that remain unchanged. In my contribution, I illuminate why the overall conflict will be so hard to resolve.

One evening, in August 2014, Veronika was collecting her son from kindergarten in a town near Donetsk, just like every other day. A ceasefire had been promised, she thought, and there had been no audible shelling for one or two weeks, then. She bundled her son and the next-door neighbour’s daughter onto her moped and set off home. For some reason, her son was nervous, and wanted them to stop awhile. But all was quiet. She pointed out to him that people were out in the streets, sunbathing on the beach, relaxing. All was fine; all was calm. They stood for three minutes, and suddenly the sky tore itself apart.

This holiday season we invite you to join our efforts and make the gift of knowing Ukraine to the rest of the world! If you are one of the few people on this planet who is fluent in Ukrainian and whose native language is English, and if you already have some experience translating from Ukrainian into English, please join our English website team! By volunteering as few as 1 to 2 article translations per month, you will help the world get to know Ukraine beyond the stereotypes, the negative headlines, and the simplistic divisions.

Low vaccination rates have a real and immediate effect on public health. Annually, two to three million childhood deaths are prevented worldwide because of the immunization against diphtheria, measles, pertussis, and tetanus. However, immunization also plays a crucial role in the control of infectious diseases that extends beyond protecting the vaccinated against infection. Vaccines prevent the spread of disease not only among the immunized but also among unvaccinated individuals through the process known as “herd immunity.” Thus, an additional benefit of mass immunization is greater disease control. The development of an effective vaccine, for example, helped eradicate smallpox entirely, even though not everyone could be vaccinated. Further, vaccines also provide protection...

Ukraine’s 2013—2014 Revolution of Dignity triggered an outpouring of creative expression in Ukraine. The revolution itself, a grass-roots improvisation of carnivalesque activity, induced an abundance of creativity, which primarily appeared in the public space of Kyiv’s central square. Somewhat naturally, street art served as a means of this public expression and became a mode of expression throughout the country beyond the space of the Maidan itself.

In independent Ukraine, our 25-year experience of referendum democracy is a complicated one - with its peaks and valleys and various attempts to exploit referendums in political games. This experience must be examined deeply and carefully, including both what actually happened and the "missed opportunities" - processes of a concealed (latent) character. After the Revolution of Dignity [that is, the Ukrainian revolution of 2014], the future of referendum democracy can only be pro-European, since Ukraine officially chose the path of Eurointegration. The country needs a European model for this sort of democracy that would fulfill the needs and demands of civil society.

We can think of Pokemon Go as a joyous articulation of a well-known myth: the myth of the polytheistic, animist universe. This myth expresses our innate desire to look at the world and find more than buildings, cars, and people, but also magical creatures lurking just below the humdrum surface, and to lose ourselves in their world. This is not a new desire – it is one we share with our earliest ancestors, who were brought together by the spirits they saw in land and water. It is this desire, just as much if not more as the desire for total realism that Bazin describes, that has guided our species from cave-painting to 3D blockbusters, video games, and beyond.