About 70 years ago at UCLA, I took a course in Russian lit in translation. I read "The Sebastopol Stories" by Tolstoy, a collection of tales about the Cossacks. "Cossack" means "free man." So who were the Cossacks?
Today we call them Ukrainians.
The Cossacks were European but lived somewhat like the plains Indians of North America, roaming the steppes on horseback. At times they were murderous anti-Semites--they believed Jews were complicit with despotic authorities. The Cossacks themselves were democratic, electing their leaders, committed to personal freedom and military adventures.
For centuries the Cossacks fought for and against Poland, Lithuania, the Moslems and Russia. In the process they founded modern Ukraine.
Without Ukraine, Russian is a middle-sized, despotic nation that mistakenly believes it is a great power with a fearsome army.
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