title: Collisions
abstract: Abstract On February 24, 2022, Vladimir Putin launched a massive invasion of Ukraine, setting in motion changes that have been felt around the globe. Collisions is the story of this war’s origins. It begins in 2008, when Barack Obama came to power in the United States and Dmitry Medvedev came to power in Russia, a period of optimism and new beginnings. It then traces a steady parting of the ways between the United States and Russia, from the return of a newly aggressive Putin to the Kremlin in 2