The Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 was a bold act of aggression and escalation in a conflict that began in 2014. Many observers, political leaders, and military analysts believed that the invasion would lead to the quick defeat and capitulation by the Ukrainian government and military. Those expectations were wrong.
In a series of 17 essays in the first half of the book, published during the course of the war and brought together in this volume, J. Daryl Charles writes of the moral and ethical aspects of the war as well as its political dimensions and meaning for the West. In the second half of the book he considers the conflict through the lens of the just war tradition and argues that the defense of Ukraine is a moral and military obligation of the West.
Measured and thought-provoking, the author provides readers much to consider with respect to war in Ukraine and war in the twenty-first century. His work is a stark reminder that values have consequences.
About the Author:
J. Daryl Charles, PhD, is an affiliate scholar of the John Jay Institute and serves as a contributing editor of Providence: A Journal of Christianity and American Foreign Policy and the journal Touchstone. He has written more than twenty books on issues of religion and war, ethics and public policy, and on the just war tradition.
