UNE Professor of Peace Studies Helen Ware tries to find hope for Ukraine

Helen Ware is the Professor of Peace Studies in the Faculty of Humanities, Arts, Social Sciences and Education for the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences at the University of New England.

"It's an absolute disaster," Prof Ware said. "And beyond what anybody imagined was going to happen, especially now that Putin is talking about the nuclear option."

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During her career, Professor Ware has been an historian, a sociologist, a demographer, a human rights advocate, a femocrat, an aid bureaucrat, and a diplomat. Given the potential impact of peace studies on the real world where people are dying and fleeing as refugees, she is also strongly devoted to critical thinking.

She believes that before criticising the biases of others, we should understand our own.

Defence of the rights of the disadvantaged is vital, Professor Ware has said, but must be based on rational grounds and an in-depth understanding of the actual situation.

So does she think there is any justification for Putin's actions?

"I think until quite recently there was a way to see it from Putin's view," she said.

"He felt it was unfair that he was being encircled and that the Minsk agreement had not been kept to.

"But now he's gone too far. The Ukrainian regime is not altogether a wonderful democracy, still invading somebody else's country in that way. It is a dreadful thing to do.

"And we have to remember that this is what the Iraqis probably felt when the Americans did it, so it isn't something unique to what Russia has done. America probably had a slightly better excuse for going into Iraq, but not much better."

Professor Ware said it seems Putin is trying to reinvent history.

"He appears to have some golden age in his mind where Ukraine was part of Russia, and they were all part of one great homeland, " she said.

"It is incredible that you have one man who is playing soldiers, and he has 100,000 live bodies to play with."

Read more: Putin's sick fantasy not limited to Ukraine: Kyiv's top diplomat

Professor Ware said it was very difficult to envisage that the Ukrainians would hold out much longer. The only hope is that eventually, Putin will try to win them over by investing in the country and building infrastructure.

"They've already held out longer than people expected," she said.

"Sadly, I think the Russians will succeed in taking Kyiv and then what happens to the president then? Either he's dead, or he's in exile. It's not optimistic whichever way you look at it.

"I suppose the most optimistic you could be would be to say the Russians will want to make friends with them and improve their economy.

"Ukraine is the poorest country in Europe, so maybe Russia will try and bribe them with new infrastructure and consumer goods and who knows what.

"But I suppose being bought over is better than being fought over."

Professor Ware belongs to the Armidale branch of the 10,000 strong worldwide movement Women in Black who protest passively against war.

For more than 18 years, Armidale Women in Black have gathered outside the Old Courthouse in the Mall on the last Saturday of the month at 10.30am for a silent half-hour, to mourn the victims of violence around the world, and to protest at the expanding use of military action.

She said she hopes there will come a time in the not too distant future when Ukrainians can resist passively and peacefully without getting arrested under a new regime.

"Using the power of sheer numbers - even Putin can't arrest everybody in Ukraine," Professor Ware said

"And nobody could be as brave as the people who have been demonstrating against the war in Russia, I mean, that's straightway a ticket to jail."

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