Ukraine and Beyond is a series of conversations with me and various guests with the aim of improving our understanding of the war in Ukraine and with the ambition of improving our ability to understand and fight the global struggle for freedom.
My name is Emil Juhler-Nøttrup, I am 27 years old and I am from Copenhagen, Denmark. I have always been politically active, and I am currently doing a Master’s degree in Political Science.
My personal motivation for doing and publishing the conversations stems from a sense of responsibility and indignation that I have felt ever since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The responsibility and indignation arose because what took place crystallised for me what happens when free democratic countries meet autocratic threats with apathy, conveniency and appeasement. The free democratic world failed Ukraine by giving them NOTHING substantial to defend themselves with prior to the full-scale invasion because we thought the President and the people would surrender without a fight. Why were we so blatantly wrong?
I think it comes down to two factors. One is our own inability to defend and understand freedom, and the other is our lack of understanding of the countries that have suffered under Soviet and Russian influence in the past, and I think the two things are intrinsically linked. The ambition is therefore also that by understanding Ukraine better, we can improve our overall ability to defend and understand freedom. And after all, if we ourselves DO NOT defend freedom, which we DID NOT before the full-scale invasion, both on a practical level and in the global struggle for narratives, then why should other people follow our example? Right now Ukraine is the example we all have to follow and understand. It´s as simple as that.
The conversations take place in Danish and English, as I also speak with Danes. I do my best to talk to as many Ukrainians as possible, because their stories are the most important and greatly inspire me, but many of the conversations are also with Danish or foreign politicians and experts whose voices are important in the debate.
If you got this far, i suppose you will read this as well, so let me be honest. I once had a more USA, NATO and EU critic view, but what corrected my path, was seeing the documentary ”Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom”. This documentary shows what Ukrainians went through during the ”Revolution of Dignity” in the winter of 2013-14, and it is just staggering how close you see the events. Nothing is left for doubt. This was a democratic revolution in which many Ukrainians willingly sacrificed their lifes to the struggle for freedom and dignity. We have to keep honoring, understanding and think of the meaning such actions!
Enjoy and get smarter.
Slava Ukraini!