Laila Porras Musalem estudió la licenciatura en Ciencias económicas en la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). Es doctora en Ciencias económicas, egresada de la Universidad París-Cité, Francia. Publicó en Francia: La desigualdad de ingresos y de la pobreza durante la transformación postsocialista. Un análisis institucional de los casos checo, húngaro y ruso, por editorial L’Harmattan. Ha sido investigadora asociada en el Centro de Estudios de Modos de Industrialización (CEMI) de la Escuela de Estudios Superiores de Ciencias Sociales de París (EHESS) y en el Laboratorio Dinámicas Sociales y Recomposición de los Espacios (LADYSS) de la Universidad Paris-Cité. Ha impartido diversos cursos y conferencias en varias universidades en Francia: Universidad ParísCité, Universidad Gustave Eiffel, Universidad Católica de Angers (UCO), entre otras. Ha sido profesora invitada en el Instituto Sorbona Kazajistán (ISK)-Universidad Pedagógica Nacional de Abai, en Almaty, Kazajistán. Trabajó en el servicio diplomático mexicano en Francia y actualmente es profesora en la Escuela Superior de Ciencias Comerciales de Angers (ESSCA), Francia
ENGLISH DESCRIPTION
Russia's violent invasion of Ukraine sparked numerous debates regarding the military intervention. The convictions and accusations have put Russia —not without reason— as an executioner and have encouraged various countries to pass judgments disapproving of Vladimir Putin's dictates. Few analysts offer a neutral, precise, and profound argument about the origins of this conflict, like the ones presented in this book.
To understand the war between Russia and Ukraine--which widely exceeds its borders, as the latter is supported economically and militarily by what Putin calls "the collective West"-- the author presents a clear and pertinent study of a history shared by both nations. The book analyzes the conflict’s various external sources: geopolitical and economic, such as the broken NATO pact and the economic pressures of the European Union towards Ukraine. Both developments are perceived by Russia as military and economic sieges that threaten its sovereignty and security.
With that in mind, Porras evokes the geopolitical conflicts in the area caused by the control of hydrocarbon routes, among others issues. The author details how Russia was transformed from its Soviet stage to its integration into capitalism, its economic development, the sinister game of chess played by its oligarchies, its return as a military power, and the eagerness of its elites to return to their nation as the architects and leaders of a new multipolar world order.
The Russian Odyssey shatters the rising commentocracy of our times and offers solid explanations of Ukraine's historical, economic, and political pilgrimage, the foreign invasions on its territory for centuries, and its struggle to establish itself as an independent nation, as well as the paradoxes between distance and proximity with Russia, and its position as a strategic point for the economic and military interests of the United States and the European Union. The book also comments on Russia’s obstinate desire for expansion and open mercantile struggle.