Wandering the Edge

Our first interview of 2022 is with researcher and historian Alik Gomelsky. Originally from Kharkiv, he is a member of the Canadian Author’s Association, co-founder of the Ukrainian-Jewish International Association and the author of "History: Unlearned Lessons", "Simon Petliura: Facts against Myths" and his latest: "Jewish-Ukrainian Relations. 20thCentury" (all in Ukrainian). His work is based on...

Russia today wants to "deNazify" Ukraine, to eliminate the Ukrainian "fascists" and has systematically killed innocent civilians in this demented drive of theirs. But how did we get to this point - where Russian society supports the eradication of an entire people? Well, a lot of it has to do with misleading and outright lies that they turned into myths of the Second World War....

Ukraine's independence in 1991 could not have been accomplished without the 1990 Revolution on Granite. The Orange Revolution could not have been organized without the students in 2004. And the 2014 Revolution of Dignity was as much a student protest as a national indication of the nation's governance. How were students so organized that they stood up against some huge political obstacles?...

Russian preside/dictator went on national television on Feb. 21, 2022 and showed the world that he was an insane despot. Three days later, on Feb. 24 at 5am Kyiv time, the Russian army began bombing Kyiv. This episode is a response to that crazy, delusional speech from Putin. There is a lot of swearing, because I'm pretty mad. There's no travel or tourist information and won't be until every Russi...

Due to the current Russia war against Ukraine, I've cut the travel/tourist topics from these episodes going forward until Putin withdraws his troops or basically dies. But I will still look at various historical topics, like in this episode: Nestor Makhno was a revolutionary anarchist during a time of complete chaos of the post-First World War Ukraine. He fought against various coloured armies...

What is Russian imperialism and how does it differ from any other form of imperialism? Where did it start and why is it so focused on Ukraine? What is Putin, really and why is he so terrified of letting Ukraine go (even though we don't really want to be part of his "Ruskiy Mir")? Find out in this latest episode! We'll also discuss the historical ties of Russian imperialism with U...

Taras Shevchenko (1814-1861) was a Ukrainian poet, writer, artist, public, political figure, folklorist and ethnographer. He is seen by many as Ukraine's prophet and his poetry is the foundation of Ukraine' modern literature. He was an orphan, a serf, a Russian titled "Artist", an exile and a lonely figure that was surrounded by a group of literary friends who bought him out of s...

These women were some of the firsts to become officers in any armed forces of the world - during a time of unimaginable turmoil that was the Great War. These veterans of the First World War had active lives before, during and after the war and impacted the history of Ukraine in the twentieth century. Some became leaders in various organizations, others went into politics while some just couldn&#39...

In this week's episode, we have a discussion with Dr. Marnie Howlett - a Departmental Lecturer in Politics and Qualitative Methods in the Department of Politics and International Relations at Oxford University. We will be talking about her doctoral thesis dissertation titled “Re-Envisioning Nationalism from the Borderlands of a Borderland: An analysis of post-Soviet Ukraine," along with many, many...

Gregory Orlyk or Gregoire Orlyk or Hryhor Orlyk - the Knight of the Swedish Order of the Sword, the French Order of Saint Louis and the Polish Order of the White Eagle. He was influential in 18th century European diplomacy and military affairs, criss-crossed Europe in various disguises and even wanted to create a Cossack Sich on the Rhine. And he wrote - A LOT! Find out in this episode about one o...

Pylyp Orlyk, Ivan Mazepa's successor, wrote one of the first democratic constitutions in European history. He was also an exiled Hetman, a wandering diplomat and a endless optimist when it came to Ukrainian-Cossack independence. How did he rise in the ranks of the Cossacks and what were his diplomatic relations throughout Europe? This episode delves into that along with an indepth examination...

Hetman Ivan Mazepa is a controversial historical figure - but he was also the longest ruling Hetman of the Cossacks and the only one to die a natural death, in freedom. His life was a bit of a soup opera with some wild adventures throughout Europe, he had a bromance with Peter the Great which eventually turned ugly and he inspired some great writers like Voltaire and Lord Byron. So who was this gr...

King Danylo Halytsky or Daniel of Galicia or the King of Ruthenia or Danylo Romanovych or Prince of Galicia, Przemysl and Volodymyr - a 13th century mediaval noble with many titles. The son of a great "prince" and a foreign princess, a knight-king who ruled and expanded his kingdom, who fought the Golden Horde, reworked his armies, increased his kingdom's political and economic stren...

The Brotherhood of Sts. Cyril and Methodius was a secret literary club including some of Ukraine's most prominent Romantic literary figures, including Taras Shevchenko, during a time where literary clubs were all the rage throughout Europe. In this episode, you will meet some of them but also get a glimpse at their impact for Ukrainian history and the Ukrainian national consciousness and how a...

Do you know how small the 11th century medieval European royal courts were? How did Yaroslav the Wise become known as the "father-in-law of Europe"? How his four daughters became influential among the Hungarian, Norwegian, English and French royalty? Well, this episode looks at Yaroslav the Wise's four daughters: Anastasia, Agatha, Elizabeth and Anne and how their marriages happened,...

Operation Frantic was a joint (sort-of) Soviet-American bombing operation at the tail-end of the Second World War. Using Ukrainian air bases that also housed the Germans and Soviets before them, the American bombers tried to help the Allied war effort by bombing eastern German targets, tried to get the German Luftwaffe's attention during D-Day and also dropped aid to the Poles during the Warsa...

Did you know that the Scythians were a large influence on European civilization? That their military prowess lead them all the way to Egypt and against the famous of ancient rulers - Darius the Great and Alexander the Great? How about the Amazons - did you know they were active members of Scythian society? What's myth and what's truth about the famous women warriors? You will find out in t...

How did Ukrainian music evolve throughout time? What influenced it and how was it changed by Soviet occupation? What is the "bilyj holos" or natural voice of Ukraine and what makes it so special? Find out all of this over some girl talk about what Ukrainian folk music means - from those of us who came from a village or even those who didn't step one foot outside the city until much later in life....

Who was Metropolitan Lypkivsky, the man who said this in 1919: "If you do not become united in the defence of your homeland, you will weep under Moscow captivity, as Israel once did under Babylon." Find out how he grew up, his history in the Orthodox Church, his rebellious insistance in creating an Ukrainian independence churce and his persecution by the Soviet authorities. Also, get a g...

In this episode, we explore how and why Ukraine's oligarchs came to be through the prism of the theory of political economy. Which oligarchs own what, how did Ukraine pseudo-mafia state begin and how did communism influence it? There's also some frustrating stories of how Ukraine's state system works, from personal experience. Plus, you'll get a great tour of some of central Kyiv&#...

Why are Ukrainian weddings so awesome? How were these traditions created and how did they evolve? When do the couple begin their wedding journey and how does it end? And why is a barn involved? Well, in this episode we will marry Taras and Zoriana and go through the three stages of a Ukrainian wedding: the pre-wedding, wedding and post-wedding craziness. We'll also learn about a huge open-air...

Who was part of the Red Renaissance - a group of Ukrainian communist artist-intellectuals who got to live in their own apartment building? This one buiding in central Kharkiv became Stalin's "Great Terror Lite" - before the terror of the late 1930's, Stalin managed to arrest, exile or execute 90% of the residents of this "Slovo" building. Why and how? Find out in this e...

Who were the registered and Zaporizhian Cossacks, what was their impact on Ukrainian culture, society, historical memory, military formations and psyche and why are they different from the Russians? This episode explains how those who fled serfdom to the wild, wild east of the Ukrainian steppes in the 16th century created a culture that still has a huge impact on Ukraine, that their imagery is as...

Marusia Churai, Ukrainian poetess from the 17th century, wrote a poem about poisoning her lover and then became a national icon. How did this happen? Why did her poems, turned songs, become an inspiration for a nation and how did them become some of the best known Ukrainian national songs? Find out in this episode which details the love-triangle Marusia got herself into, the death sentence she got...

This episode explores the story of Olha of Kyiv – saint, mother, queen, diplomat, reformer and warrior (probably). The woman whose revenge is part of history, who outsmarted the Emperor of Byzantium and who inspired the bloodiest weddings in the "Game of Thrones" world. This episode places her in a wider historical European world but also looks at her story through a more Viking perspect...