title: Misreading Russian Studies
abstract: introspective essay "Misreading Russia" makes two core claims: (a) that understanding Russia's history is crucial to understanding Russia today and (b) that failing to appreciate Russia's history explains the West's perpetually misguided policy towards Russia since the 1990s, culminating in the war Russia is currently waging on Ukraine.The first claim could be formulated as a general stance on the importance of historical and area knowledge for policymakers-a claim that I suspect few would find 
journal: The Canadian Journal of European and Russian Studies