How to Hide an Empire: Naming and Nature of Russo-Ukrainian War

To understand the current horror in Eastern Europe, it is imperative to consider two important and interrelated questions: (1) the proper way to designate what is going on and (2) a particular predisposition that both hinders using this proper designation and incited the horror in question. My concise answer to both question is that the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war has been provoked by Russian imperialism. Unfortunately, however, the imperial nature of the war is often unnoticed by the Western general public. This should be changed because any viable conflict resolution must account for the origins of the crisis.